Crossing Barriers
by TheBetanWerecat
Summary: Crossover Gundam WingGundam Seed. It's been 3 years since the Mariemaia Incident. Friends have drifted apart. But when need calls them back together, neither space nor time will stop them.
1. Chapter 1

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Well, I did say I was going to wait until I had it mostly written. However, on the advice of my Beta, I'm going to start putting it up now. There will be a total of eight chapters in this first upload session. Its everything written and beta'd so far. This means there will be a considerable time between uploads as I will be doing it in sizable chunks. Patience is a virtue, I will be asking my readers to be real virtuous here. It's taken me since early October to get this much done. Since I've still got the other story to finish, updates will NOT be quick.

I have also done something I really, really, do not like doing in this story. It is written entirely focused on the canon characters. I have a prejudice against this because I see it done so wrong so much of the time. I hate to think I'd add to the abuse of other peoples creations. But this story doesn't lend itself to working with OCs. A few some of you may know from "Respect Between Enemies" will pop in from time to time but thats about all. There may be a single OC that shows up later in the story. If so, they will be there to advance the action and they will bow out of the canon folks lives by the end of it.

I'm trying my hand at a crossover. This is Gundam Wing meets Gundam Seed. Yes, there will be mention of Yaoi. No I will not write the details. I'm a firm believer in setting up suggestive structures and letting the reader make up their own to their hearts content. I will also offer an explanation of just why five guys - who aren't depicted that way in the series period! - end up being functionally gay.

DISCLAIMER: I have no ownership of any kind in either Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They belong to their creators and the companies who produced them for public viewing. I do own my OC's and the plot and thats all.

* * *

Space flight tended to be boring when you had done it as often as the shuttle pilot had. It was made even more so when one had spent so many years on various colonies or the moon. Mind you, the news was rarely all that interesting either. But at the moment it held a slightly greater significance than staring at the points of burning hydrogen that dotted the view everywhere.

". . . second commercial flight to disappear in the area in the last five months. No trace of the shuttle or its eleven passengers and five man crew has been found yet. Search and Rescue has been on the scene for three days now and hope is fading. The shuttle carried standard emergency supplies but only enough air for two and a half days. Relatives are being flown to facilities on L4 by the shuttle line . . . ."

He frowned slightly. That made eight shuttles or small work craft that had disappeared out by the new site that would soon be L3a112b. The odds of this occurring were beginning to get absurd. Just what was happening out there? He hated not knowing what was going on! Of all the things lost in the wars, and he had lost a great deal, his information network was the one he really missed most.

"Officials at Preventer Headquarters today have announced the discovery of a stash of some eighty Taurus mobile suits. These units were found in an abandoned resource asteroid base that formerly belonged to the Oz organization. The suits are reported to be in perfect condition and fully complete. The report clearly indicates they were never supplied for combat or fueled. The mobile suits will be removed to the Preventer storage facility on the Moon for decommissioning and destruction."

Eighty suits eh? If they admitted to finding that many, how many were really there? More that they weren't admitting to having? Or far fewer so that they were padding the numbers to make it look like they were finding the old war material at the rate the public wanted it found? The public really shouldn't worry about what the Preventers found. They should be worried about what the Sweepers and the salvers were finding. Not all of those mobile units were ending up lawfully scrapped after all. But then, what the public hadn't bothered to discover wasn't causing any panic either. Perhaps ignorance could be confused with bliss here.

". . . museum spokesman Abdul Obama has verified the recent report that the Museum has acquired a hand sized piece of gundanium armor plate clearly stamped with the name Heavyarms. This find adds to the certified pieces the Museum has from the Tallgeese, the Sandrock, the Deathscythe, the Wing, the Wing Zero, and the Shenlong Gundams, making this the most complete collection known. Mr. Obama was most specific in repeating that the museum is very interested in lawfully obtaining verifiable remnants from the Tallgeese II, Deathscythe Hell, Epyon, and the Altron Gundams to truly complete the collection. The Museum of Modern History has been in the forefront of the effort to conserve the few remaining fragments of the Gundams and to preserve their story for future generations."

He snorted. Preserve their story indeed! As if they really knew the story in the first place! Only the five of them had actually known the story of the Gundams and their pilots and three of them were dead now. Even they only knew so much. They hadn't flown the machines, hadn't fought the battles. It was the boys themselves who knew the rest of the story of the Gundams. And they weren't talking. Proof enough, if anyone needed it, of just how bright all five of them really were.

Then there was the last of the true Gundams. Treize Khushrenada was the one who'd known the story of Epyon and he was dead too. Zechs Merquise, Epyon's pilot, had disappeared several years ago. There was no one left to tell the real story of that machine at all. Anything beyond whatever Heero Yuy knew was going to be more speculation and educated guesswork than genuine history. And Yuy had gone missing on purpose just about the same time Merquise had.

A proximity alarm began to beep at him. He looked up from the newscast to find his destination in sight. He flipped the news off. The old man grinned, a remarkably evil look for so common a gesture, and turned his attention to finding his landing point.

Professor G parked his shuttle in the surprisingly operational hanger of the ruined Oz station. It had been shot up late in the war and had been abandoned ever since. Or at least that was the official story. Reality had to be something more 'interesting' though or this hanger wouldn't be working.

One exit light was on. With all the others dark, it was a very unsubtle bit of direction. Considering who had asked him to come and how secretly the transportation had been arranged, the blatant light seemed a bit out of character. Then again, who else was going to be here to see it?

As he entered the corridor, he noted the doors were all sealed. One light in five was on in the hallway itself and the artificial gravity was off. He didn't need it, moving swiftly and smoothly into the interior. Here and there he could see where heavy damages had been roughly repaired. The corridors were airtight but nothing more.

A final, very heavy, hatchway opened as he approached it. Prof. G drifted silently into a cavernous space he instantly recognized as a repair facility for mobile suits. It was mostly dark but for a single, well lit desk. He instantly recognized the man waiting for him there.

"Have you decided to take up melodrama at your age J?"

"Hardly." The other replied with a small snort. "This place is listed as wreckage. Too much energy coming from it will attract undesirable attention. I've got all the shielding up I could manage but there is still leakage and the Preventers aren't blind."

"No," G conceded as he came to a neat stop beside the desk, "they aren't. This is Nelson's patrol zone too. I can understand your caution."

"Nelson is a serious annoyance but they will be rotating Wu Fei and his team up here in three weeks. I have to be done by then. Chang won't overlook the tiny new leaks like Nelson has. He'll come here to be sure he knows what their cause is. Nelson's ex-Oz and was stationed here once. He thinks he knows the cause, so he isn't worried. Wu Fei wasn't and isn't the kind to overlook something new just because it's something another Preventer can explain away."

"And what has been happening here?" G asked evenly.

J turned and gave him a long, steady look. "I've been rebuilding the Gundams."

One couldn't really fall when one's knees gave out in zero g. The odd, jerky movement though could send you drifting in unexpected directions. Perhaps it was fortunate that his old colleague had anticipated something like this. G found his arm snagged before he could drift more than a couple of feet from the desk.

"You've been doing _what_?" he demanded hoarsely when he was finally able to speak again.

"I've been rebuilding the Gundams." J repeated his impossible assertion.

"What Gundams?!" G shouted. "They're gone!"

"Hardly. Quatre and the Maganac ended up rescuing them from the Sun, remember. Lesser methods of destruction can be recovered from." J smiled grimly. "They were just wrecked, even Wing Zero. Someone, I suspect Relena - the girl is a sentimental idiot but she does understand what kind of power as symbols those machines still have - had the scraps collected. It makes me wonder what those fools from the Museum of Modern History would do if they'd ever found out _why_ there are so few bits and pieces out and about to buy. At any rate, I simply found out where they were and took them. I diddled the records of course; I don't think they even know they're gone yet. The fools in charge didn't have the minimal brains to smelt any of the parts down to keep someone from doing exactly what I am doing either! They just had them all neatly crated up and stored away. Eventually the plan was to put the heads back together and set them in a museum. Perhaps even Obama's precious Modern History! Really G, can you even visualize something that grotesque?"

"But, why?" G stared at him, honestly puzzled. "The war is over! We have real peace now, both on the Earth and out in the colonies. Why would you resurrect the Gundams? They've banned military mobile suits of all kinds, but Gundams most especially. The world populace would tear you apart."

J nodded in weary agreement. "Yes, we do and yes, it would. But do you remember why we built the Tallgeese in the first place?"

"Because we could see where the Alliance was heading of course!" G snapped. "There isn't any such threat now. No one I've talked to can see one developing in the near future either. And by near future I mean at least the next fifty years! The Gundams will be obsolete by then. Technology will pass them by in a decade. What is the point of this?"

"Are you so sure? I'm not. There's something going on out in the colonies and I can't get any data on it. Whatever it is, its keeping itself very much out of sight right now. But small numbers of people, some of them very bright people, have been dropping out of sight in the last eighteen months. And who or whatever this trouble is, it wants the pilots dead and the Gundams indisputably destroyed."

The sharp-nosed scientist stilled. A lot of bits and pieces suddenly clicked into a new pattern; a very dangerous one. He'd known something wasn't right for over a year. He hadn't suspected something this bad.

J looked out at the stars through the room's one viewport. "G, the situation is more delicate than I think you want to believe. When the Mariemaia mess ended, the whole of humanity celebrated and thought things were going to finally improve. And if there were a God and justice, they would have. But instead, we were _gifted_ with the planet's third worst influenza epidemic on record the next fall with that Cotton Lung stuff. The colonies sealed themselves off to save their lives while some thirty four percent of the planet's population died. That did nothing to make things smoother between space and the ground-bound. But the famine that followed because too many of the dead were either farmers or part of the food distribution system was the real social disaster. The starvation killed almost a quarter of those who'd survived the disease. Total global population loss was close to forty five percent and the colonies lost almost a third of their people too. The entire structure of human society, all human societies, tottered right to the edge of extinction there. I dislike her, but we'd have likely all died without Relena Peacecraft Dorlian stepping forward and providing leadership. Her vision of total pacifism is folly but it did create a shared hope that allowed us to pull through that hell."

"Oh, I understand," G replied. "Believe me, I do. I was living on L4 when the food rationing went into effect and the shipments from Earth damn near stopped for seven whole months. The fairly broad goodwill that had been developing was crushed then. And it hasn't recovered yet. There is considerable neutrality now, but very little goodwill."

"I have no trouble believing that. It fits neatly in with what I've been seeing. But this involves more than the colonies. Whoever these people are, they seem to have some very significant contacts in the Earth government too."

Professor G was many things, a genuine 'mad scientist' and legally dead at the moment were among them, but he wasn't a fool and he had never lived in anyone's ivory tower. Moreover, he'd worked with Doctor J for decades. He knew, and inasmuch as he ever could, trusted the man.

"I'll want to see your evidence."

"Follow me. Dinner will be unimpressive but the documentation should make up for it."

Oz field rations left over from the war qualified as unimpressive all right. But they were eatable and they would sustain life. Nothing more could be said for them yet the memory of recent starvation made them more than acceptable.

The mass of material J had accumulated on the other hand was fascinating. There were almost no hard facts in the whole stack, an amazing fact in and of itself considering the volume of the data, but the innuendo was very clear. You were being directed to watch the unstable government of the L2 colony. And it did need watching. But there was someone else out there, someone who was directing your eyes towards L2.

Trying to see them was like trying to hear smoke or smell music. You were always using the wrong sense at the wrong time. Whoever they were, they were still small right now. He had a distinct impression they were staying small on purpose for the moment. That they could grow any time they chose. But the time wasn't right and they weren't foolish enough to take the risk when there would be no reward.

And they were afraid of the Gundams, of the remote chance they could be reassembled from the rubble they were last seen in. They knew what the Earth government didn't, that someone had stolen the scraps. They understood that they might really have something to fear.

Worse, they either had the capacity to build mobile suits or could seize them readily from the steadily dwindling stockpile the Preventers still guarded. But they knew no standard suit stood a chance against a Gundam. That was why they were still staying out of sight he realized. They had to be sure the Gundams and their pilots were really gone before they could move. The only thing that had saved the boys so far was that so few people knew who they were. He said as much to J.

"That's right. The trouble is, too many people do know. Sooner or later, those people are going to stumble across someone who has a name. And once they have one name, they'll get the others in short order. Most of the boys aren't that hard to find any more. Winner is a public figure. He'd be relatively simple to kill once they find his name. Barton is with the circus. They could take him out during a performance before he ever knew he was being hunted again. Chang is with the Preventers of course, and Maxwell is with Hilde on L2. Neither of them would be an easy target but if they struck without warning, not unworkable ones either. Only Yuy is truly lost to sight; at least for the moment an impossible target by virtue of invisibility."

"I think you underestimate Trowa Barton and I know you're missing on Quatre Winner." G noted. "None of the G pilots is a simple kill. They would have died long ago if they were. They all have a highly developed sixth sense for lethal danger. But you didn't call me here to discuss the boys. You need me to help you do something."

"We need to get the rebuilt Gundams and their pilots out of sight, completely and undiscoverably out of sight for the next several months, agreed?"

"Yes, it would look that way."

"Do you have any suggestions of a place that would be genuinely undiscoverable?"

"Is this some kind of stupid game?"

"No, not really. I'd take a simpler solution if you have one. Believe me, the one I have in mind is dangerous, unproven, and might not work anything like animal testing suggests it should."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember the dream H had to look across space-time and see the past?"

"Of course."

"I have his amplifier. I have your designs for multiple sequential power modulators. I have the tuners S made to go with the amplifier. And I've worked out the sequence of frequency fluctuations needed to let us take that look. Only I didn't get into the past."

G could feel his eyes widening. "Alternate dimensions?" he whispered.

"I've found three." J replied. "Two are very unstable connections that I can barely see into. But the third is steady as a rock. I can see, hear, record data, and send physical objects over there."

"YOU'VE DONE WHAT?!?!"

"I've sent physical objects over there." J replied evenly. "Small steel balls, a cheese sandwich, other things. They've all made the trip safely. So have three mice and a stray dog."

"Oh," he added offhandedly, "and an ex-Oz soldier who stumbled on the lab before I could get things taken apart. He made it safely too. Too bad he was shot moments later by local combat forces."

G gave his friend a very cold stare. "Local combat forces you say."

"Yes. Fortunately, their war is also over now."

"Tell me, how would they get back?"

"I've tested that too. Or did you think I left the body for the locals to find? The unit can tap the power here to make the connection for the return but it is a one-shot device. It's scrap after that single use."

"Five Gundams mass considerably more than a single soldier." G pointed out bluntly.

"The unit I've built for their return is also considerably more powerful that the experimental model I used to recover the soldier's body. Believe me, this one can move at least three times the mass of all five of them. I wanted as much of a safety margin as I could build into it."

"Show me."

"This way."

J led him back to the outer shell of the ruined station. There, in what had once been a bubble holding a sensor suite, was one of the most jackleg, cobbled together looking pieces of equipment Professor G had ever seen. J had taken full advantage of the weightlessness conditions of space. Computer components normally contained in heavy cases sat out inside nothing more than simple radiation sleeves. They sat at odd angles and odd points all over the place, easily accessible for replacement or repair while the wiring and cabling snaked through all available spaces.

He recognized the odd, bell mouth of the huge amplifier H had built so long ago jutting up from the center of the chaos. That, a neat control panel, very high quality monitor and equally good speaker system, and a massive data storage unit were the only completely identifiable items in the area. He could have identified specific parts of the other assemblies of course, but he had no idea what the assemblies themselves were or what they did.

The monitor was on. A slender young woman with the unmistakable look of a news anchor was staring earnestly out at him, speaking swiftly in a language he didn't recognize. Behind her was an image of a spaceship of unfamiliar design. Moving around the ship in a manner that didn't immediately appear hostile were units that had to be some kind of mobile suits.

"Newscast." J noted. "Good. Take a seat."

"She looks human."

"As far as I can tell, she probably is. How close they are to our kind of human is another question but they are definitely human in behavior."

"Big on wars, politics, and dirty deals are they?"

"Oh yes. And on shining heroes too." J sighed. "They've apparently gone into genetic research in a major way and they're long past mouse testing."

"They're modifying humans?" G asked, a bit startled.

"Heavily and a lot of them. They have an entire sub-culture of modified humans. The tinkering we did on 01 to make him so durable wouldn't even be noticed by these people. I suppose our experimental work would look like simple health precautions from their perspective. They could bring all the boys up to Yuy's level even though they're in their late teens now. They do their serious modifications on single cell fertilized ova. Anything older might not take up such extensive changes correctly or evenly."

"And we thought the Romefeller group was dangerous!"

"It was." J snorted. "And these people had their equivalent. I don't pretend to understand all the ins and outs of their recent history yet but I can give you the broad picture."

"Let me guess. Race wars."

J nodded. "Two of them in quick succession. They seem to have been very bloody affairs that killed large numbers of civilians on both sides as well. The second one has left the planet damaged but still quite livable."

"Who won?"

"Neither side. There seems to be a small but very powerful third faction that tipped the balance both times to prevent genocide by either side. They are currently trying to build a new peace on the ruins of their second war."

G eyed the monitor again. There was a much better shot up now of a pair of unmistakably military mobile suits just cruising through space. They had tall fins rising from the heads and sharp spikes jutting out of the shoulders. The lines were much smoother and the form far more developed that the suits he was used to. A sudden jump showed a completely different kind of suit standing guard in front of a fairly impressive building. This unit had some kind of winged backpack, lacked the fin and spikes but carried a heavy looking gun in its hands. The style difference was so marked he wondered if he wasn't looking at suits from the two main sides of the war.

"Those green units belong to the modifieds' military arm. What you see now is an older model belonging to the – for want of a better term - normal's military."

"You know, fascinating as all this is, it doesn't answer some basic questions."

"How are the Gundams going to cross the barrier between space-times. What are they going to do over there? How will they know when to come back? Questions like those G?"

"All of those will matter, of course, but no, the one I had in mind was more basic." He turned rather hard eyes on his old friend. "Just how do you propose to get the boys to come up here? No, even before that, how do you plan to even _find_ 01? The others you could get in touch with without too much trouble but Yuy just faded into a crowd that day and there've been no, and I do mean **no**, reliable reports of him since."

"Well, he's managed to find and remove all the tracers I had in it but he's still got his old computer. I know because I've got tags set everywhere to let me know when he uses it. I can't track him of course, he's far too good for that, but I can get a message to him. There are codes in that machine he knows nothing of because I've never activated them. I've been saving them for genuine need because once he does know they're there, he'll get rid of them immediately. I can put out a message to lay in wait in the networks and when he taps in, it will upload on his unit and he will get it. I don't have to actually find 01, I just have to persuade him to come to me."

"That's a rather tall order considering he's gone so far out of his way to vanish."

"He isn't interested in being found." J agreed calmly. "Still, he's anything but stupid. If we put what we have in front of him, he'll cooperate. He won't like it, he won't fully trust it, but he will do it. Sometime between the first mission I sent him on and the end of the Eve Wars, he recovered enough of his soul to become human again. And once that happened, he became engaged in the concept of helping others. His definition of help can be very interesting but he is honest and very genuine in his intentions. The help of a highly trained assassin who has sworn he'll never kill again isn't something everyone is ready to recognize they might need though. I expect that has a good deal to do with his staying out of sight."

"Are you really sure he's still alive?" G asked quietly. "Of the five of them, 01 is probably the one to come out of the wars with the least to live for. And he has a self-destructive streak a mile wide. He's toyed with suicide several times under the guise of following orders. I've never understood how he survived the self-destruct of the original Wing. He could even have died of Cotton Lung! Anyone could be using that computer now."

"No one has ever matched Heero Yuy's style on a keyboard or a data search. I won't even go into his hacking style. No, he's the one using the computer and he was on it the day before yesterday. So he was alive then." J shook his head. "Although I will grant you that my tracking of his computer use does suggest he either caught Cotton Lung himself or was helping someone else through a severe case for about four months there. I lean toward it being 01 himself who was sick though. He still isn't back up to the level of activity he was at before the influenza hit."

"Do you think he's even healthy enough to get back into Wing Zero's cockpit? The Zero System will eat him if he isn't in at least decent physical shape."

"I don't know. I can't until I see him. But once I do, well, there are means of treating the aftereffects of Cotton Lung. He can be _gotten_ back into condition to fly."

"What about that promise he made Relena? From what you've gathered, I'm seeing a need for a combat pilot for Wing Zero. He can't be that pilot and keep that promise."

"Probably not." J agreed. "But that's something I'm hoping he can resolve while he's over there. You see, one of the major heroes of their wars had something similar to resolve. I'm hoping studying him will help Yuy with what is otherwise going to be a large problem for us."

J waved a hand at the stars and the planet on the horizon. "He needs a purpose. They all need a purpose. Even Quatre doesn't really have one managing the Winner business empire. Whatever they might have grown up to be if we hadn't interfered, they are soldiers, no they are _warriors_, now. And warriors need people to serve and defend. Relena is trying to create a world where they are valueless and unwanted. And not just them but every other veteran like them. She's leaving very dangerous people with no place to go. But then, the girl's a fool. Unfortunately, she's a brilliant and dangerously capable fool and she's telling the vast majority of the people just what they want to hear."

"Agreed. Too bad the Preventers haven't proved to be the answer for the boys."

"Too tightly regulated." J sniffed. "Not even Chang, rule bound as he likes to think he is, is really happy there. Only his unending search for 'justice' is keeping him in their ranks. I understand why Une is holding the organization in like she is but it is making them far too conformist to offer a good place for one of the Gundam pilots. It has no place at all for the wilder black ops survivors. They will be easy for whoever is out there gathering strength and biding their time to recruit when they are finally ready to make their move."

Doctor J stared up at the endless void and the hard, unwavering light of the stars. "No, they have no place right now. But there is another war coming G, I know it and so do you. We will need them then. If we aren't going to be subjected to a tyranny as bad or worse than anything Romefeller could have come up with, we will have to have them. Which brings us back to getting them to safety now."

G rubbed his uniquely oversized nose. "Three weeks I believe you said. Three weeks before Captain Wu Fei Chang and his team come up to relieve Captain Nelson and his people. We have to have the Gundams finished, the new transfer machinery finished and have persuaded the other four boys to come here by then. Am I correct?"

"That's it."

The Professor gave the Doctor a cool stare. "Then I suggest you start working on that message to Heero Yuy."

* * *

"How're we doing tonight?" The shift chief asked as he dropped by the central monitoring station.

"Quiet night." His lead replied. "Hotzer's drunk on his ass and sound asleep again. That new kid of his is doing all the work. He ain't fast but he'd thorough. Keeping his hands off stuff that he shouldn't be touching too, just like last time."

The older man nodded as he watched the camera track a small, skinny kid with long red hair pulled back in a pony tail. He was somewhere between fifteen and twenty and he ran the power polisher over the newly cleaned main hall of the administrative building with a quiet, single-minded sort of focus.

The chief didn't like this one. For all his quiet obedience, there was something very uncomfortable about him. But then, he didn't like his boss either. And if he wasn't the Dean's brother-in-law, he'd have been able to get rid of Hotzer years ago. But he was and he couldn't and he was stuck with the never-ending string of temporary employees the drunkard hired and lost as soon as they discovered they would be doing all the work for next to no pay.

This one had lasted longer than most. It was his fifth week on campus. The drunk usually lost 'em by the fourth week. Like most of 'em, this one had no background to find. No birth records, no educational records, no medical records, no service records. He came out of the stews where too many ex-soldiers and other, even less desirable types had gone after the wars. No records was the norm for those bastards.

His eyes dark, he watched the boy methodically complete the polishing and put the equipment away. He followed him as he took the elevator up two floors and entered the Dean's outer office. Hotzer was out cold on the visitor's couch. The kid stopped and checked on him, including taking a pulse and moving his head so his breathing was easier. Yeah, he was _someone's_ veteran all right.

All the cleaning supplies for the Dean's office suite were stored right there. Unfortunately, Dean Jensen was the suspicious type and there were several, quite deliberately created, blind spots in the camera coverage of his suite. So while he could follow the kid by sound, he couldn't always see him. Still, he was moving in and out of sight in a timely manner and a pattern consistent with his cleaning duties. It wasn't until he got into Jensen's inner office that he ran into a problem, one the shift chief already knew was there.

"Hn." He heard the kid grunt quietly. "Red wine on beige carpet."

He bent down and touched one of the stains. "Fresh."

The look he shot the door was not something the chief would have wanted to be on the receiving end of. He'd clearly figured out who'd spilled that wine. The kid sat crouched beside the stain for several seconds, then went and got the cleaners and the sponges he needed. As he mechanically treated each one until he vanished into one of the blind spots, the chief rather thought this might be the final straw for this one too.

The first hints of coming dawn were beginning to dim the stars when Hotzer staggered out the door, his silent employee in tow. The man wavered so badly he could barely walk. So he didn't seem to notice that the kid poured him into the passenger side of the truck and took the keys. Then they were gone again, and the chief could finally relax.

* * *

Well, this operation was over. All that was left was to drop the truck and the drunk at the office and walk away. He kept his hand away from the pockets with the data. Touching them would be out of character and while Hotzer was still drunk, he wasn't unconscious any longer despite his effort to pretend he was.

The surprisingly heavy gates of the Stevenson Academy closed behind the truck as he rolled onto the main street. What a place for storing data on a global conspiracy! A prestige school for the daughters of the super-rich! And yet, in a way, it made a strange kind of sense considering just who seemed to be involved in this. Well, that and the fact that the school owned a supercomputer they were woefully underutilizing.

It had taken nearly three months to get into that place. Breaking in wouldn't have been impossible of course but he'd cracked enough of these people's computers now to know how their security operated. Not even he was good enough to break into the site, hack a supercomputer, steal the data and _hide_ the fact that he'd done it all in one night. He'd had to find an entry that would allow him repeated trips to be able to get what he was there for. The cleaning service was tailor made for his needs. Unfortunately, his 'boss' had been getting some ideas lately that were very dangerous, not to him, he could more than defend himself, but to the mission. He would not be sorry to get out.

The 'office' if one could call it that, was a garage and storefront in a fairly shaky part of town. A code sent from the truck to the main doors opened them just long enough for him to drive inside before they snapped closed behind him. He parked and hopped out before his boss could react.

A couple seconds thought and he knew how he was going to handle this. He wanted to disappear without raising any hue or cry. Therefore, he couldn't kick the fool in the nuts like he deserved. Instead, he whipped around to his side of the truck and had the door open before the boss knew what was going on.

Hotzer was off balance and still fairly drunk. He toppled back toward the concrete floor of the garage with a yell. His 'boy' caught him before he could hit the floor though, and started asking if he was all right. That was what the security camera saw. What it didn't see was the quick second of pressure at the base of the skull that put the man into a daze.

The security record would show the kid helping his boss into the office and getting him settled on the couch. He even found a couple blankets for the man. Then the kid stepped back and shook his head in open disgust.

"This job ain't worth this. Not every other damn night. I'm takin' my paycheck outta that desk and I'm gone. Find yourself another donkey."

The camera dutifully recorded his skilled break-in to the desk's drawer and his taking the paycheck. It also watched him pick up and put back a wad of cash. He closed it with a slam.

"Don't do it. You can't afford no cops. Don't do it." The freckled, brown-eyed redhead ran out the door.

Ten minutes later and four blocks away, a fairly youthful factory worker in a company uniform and cap, both too worn to identify in the bad light kicked his aging scooter to life and joined hundreds of his peers on the highways as he headed to work. Once in the factory district though, he just stayed on the road and suddenly he was part of the last of the wave of night workers headed home.

He parked the scooter in the same back corner of the used vehicle lot he'd 'borrowed' it from some eleven hours earlier. The owner wouldn't notice it had come back since he hadn't notice it was gone in the first place. He blended into the shadows of the alley behind the ratty wall of the dealership. When he reappeared at the end of the block, the factory worker was gone. A wary-eyed street rat in an ill-fitting knockoff designer vest, fake laced-front shirt and baggy pants topped with a sloppy brimmed hat that hid almost all his hair and most of his face slipped across the road and disappeared into the next length of alley.

He covered almost a mile as the street rat. Then, between one pile of trash and the next, right where two buildings joined, he was gone. Had there been anyone close enough with ears keen enough, they might have heard a couple of soft scrapes that would have seemed to come from the wall beside them. Then there would have been nothing.

Heero Yuy slipped the blast curtain aside and hoisted himself wearily into the two small weather tight rooms he was currently calling home. There was no stair leading to this third floor eyrie, you could only get here by climbing up between the walls. Most of the rest of the building was an abandoned ruin. What was in use was down on the first and lower floors where the street people had claimed their small territories under the protection of the concrete firewall that had been the fourth floor. From the interior, these rooms were inaccessible remnants of flooring clinging to the outside walls, covered in debris. They made an almost perfect hideout.

This outer wall held the formerly shared utilities with the tenement next door. He'd been able to carefully but quite securely tap into the electricity and the water for his modest needs; the meters for this building were long gone. A common sewer stack let him run the water without fear of detection. It wasn't one of Quatre's mansions but it was one of the snuggest safe-houses he'd had in a long time.

He flipped the light proof blast curtain back over his entry port and secured it in place. Only when he was satisfied that it was down and the edges were smooth, giving a good light seal, did he stand and turn on the lights. It was a very small and stark room.

There were no windows and the doorway into the space that was both kitchen and bath lacked a door. Ventilation had been very carefully arranged to let air in but keep light from showing out. Everything in the place but the tub and the sink had come up either on his back or had been hauled up by rope through the entry port. That had made him rather selective about what he'd brought in.

Heero stood quietly by the light switch and just studied his space. None of the small traps had been sprung and nothing was out of place by the entry. The four thin pallets were still stacked as a bed, mismatched blankets set neatly on top. The single small table and chair were where he'd left them. None of the contents of the shelves or the backpack he kept the computer in had been disturbed. He probably hadn't been found yet.

He headed for the bath, slipping the new data discs into the backpack with the computer on his way. Once in the bath, he stripped out of a surprising amount of clothing. Each identity change on the way home had added a layer. People who saw him, not that many did, generally thought he was a fairly solidly built boy. What emerged from the layers was a young man surprisingly little changed from his days as a Gundam pilot. Oh, he was a couple inches taller, standing just a shade under five foot four now, and he had filled out a bit. It was hard to see it though.

Heero had survived both the disease and following food crisis and he looked it. Expecting his body to be as resistant to Cotton Lung as it was to everything else, he'd taken a job in an area he shouldn't have. He'd learned too late that influenza was one of the few diseases even he was ready prey for.

He'd been unlucky enough to have fallen sick in one of the border areas between hunger and true famine. He remained noticeably underweight well over a year later and, in his own very prejudiced opinion, still tired too easily. His face was too thin and his eyes remained a bit too large in his skull, giving him a waif-like appearance he really despised. His shoulders had broadened some but the muscle that he should have put on wasn't there. He was all skin, bone and high tension wire. He actually weighed a couple pounds less than he had at fifteen.

Some things though, had changed. Out of all the things that he took off, only one was a weapon. He wore a single long, plain knife in a sheath carried between his shoulders. It was a very special blade. Having it made had been Duo's idea. Getting the bit of scrap for it had not been easy. He had no regrets for the tricks needed to do it either. So now he carried a single memento of the Wing Zero in this perfectly balanced killing tool made from a piece of the mobile suit's gundanium armor; a tool he'd promised Relena he'd never use. A reminder and a burden, he never left whatever safe-house he lived in without it. Some things should not be forgotten, not even for an instant.

He leaned forward into the mirror and took the muddy brown lenses out of his eyes, putting them carefully into the cleaning solution. He lifted the cheek pads out of his mouth, tossing those, and worked the crooked false teeth off his own lower front teeth. Cream and tissues took most of the pale makeup off, revealing his own deeper skin tone. And he pulled the pins out, dropping the now braided length of grubby red hair off his head where it had been hidden under the hats he'd worn. He undid it, letting it fall freely before he stepped into the shower and got rid of the rest of the grime and the one-use hair coloring.

Once he was clean, he filled the tub with fresh soapy water and dumped his clothing in. It could soak for a while. It all needed it and he didn't keep anything that had colors that might bleed onto the other items in the wash. He dried his hair and tied it back again, absently noting it was getting to the point where he was going to have to think about either getting it trimmed or keeping it braided like Duo's. Somehow, he just couldn't see himself copying the crazy baka's hair style. He liked Wu Fei's neat ponytail better.

Actually, he liked keeping it neatly trimmed above his collar best. But he was far and away too easily recognizable like that. And long hair could be styled and or colored many ways for disguise without having to risk a wig that could come off at a bad moment. It also, in another trick learned from Duo, could be used to hide lots of useful things. It never failed to amaze him how many security people searched everything _but_ his hair.

He grabbed the heavy robe off the hook by the door, wrapped himself up in its reassuring warmth, and went to see just what he had really managed to pick up. He set the computer up on the table, plugged in the external hard drive where he kept all of this hobby stored, and started uploading the new discs. Once the data was on the drive, the fun began.

With no job in the offing and money on hand, he gave himself the luxury of time, time to tear the data apart and to correlate it with the material he already had. He picked and sorted for three straight days. He took time out to eat, make obligatory stops in the bathroom, finish the laundry, and do the daily workout regimen that just about had him back into the kind of condition he'd been in at fifteen. Every other waking minute was spent at the computer. And this time there was a lot of data, he was getting somewhere.

Red or crimson, it didn't matter what the language was, those were the colors mentioned time and again. Usually accompanied by either water imagery, often violent water imagery like floods or hurricanes or sunrise imagery, bloody, 'dawn of the revolution' types of sunrise imagery. He still didn't have anything that could be considered a whole document but what he did have he didn't like.

He didn't like the questions of worth either. It wasn't possible to tell yet just who or what was being judged or what the standards were. It was becoming pretty clear however that someone was thinking in a very us-them way and that they didn't sound like they were going to play nice with the 'them'.

There was a confidence in all this that really made Heero Yuy uneasy. Whoever these people were, they had very serious money behind them, the kind that bought political and societal cooperation in places that ought to know better. It was Quatre's kind of money, although he knew the blond Arab would never be involved with anything of this nature. But Winner wasn't the only super-rich individual out there. And some of them were survivors of Romefeller, believers, deadly serious believers, in what Romefeller had stood for. And what Romefeller had stood for would mesh pretty well with the feeling he was getting for this group.

His biggest surprise had been personal; these people wanted him dead. They wanted all five of them dead. They saw the former Gundam pilots as a threat. They weren't going to waste their time trying to turn any of them to their side. They'd seen Mariemaia try that with Wu Fei and they'd seen her fail. They would eliminate the threat up front, before it could harm them. Once they could find it that was.

He knew they would. Sooner or later one of their agents was going to trip over one or more of their names. Once they had a name or names, finding faces to go with them wouldn't take them all that long. Une and Relena had gone to extraordinary lengths to hide all information on them as individuals but what was hidden could be found. He'd done it himself too often to doubt these people would be any less able to do with their numbers of hunters what he'd managed alone. After that it would be a matter of hours before there were gunmen out after each of them. And unless they had a genuine black hole to jump into, they would eventually find them too.

Heero scowled blackly at the offending screen. No matter how good any of them were, if enough assassins were sent, they would each go down eventually. Even if they stood as a team, their enemies could afford to send armies after them. They didn't have the Gundams to meet them with any more.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He'd kept his promise to Relena so far. He'd put his weapons down and he was living without violence. The blade was more a personal reminder of what he owed the world than anything else. He hadn't had a gun in his hand since he'd so symbolically 'killed' Mariemaia.

But if these shadowy enemies found his name, he would have exactly two choices; accept being slaughtered like a sheep or go down fighting. And Heero Yuy honestly didn't think he could handle the idea of just letting them butcher him. If he decided to commit suicide, well, that would be his decision now wouldn't it? But to let someone else tell him when to die? No, he simply wasn't put together that way.

Besides, he'd never hear the end of it from Duo if he let that happen. Wu Fei would be pretty sarcastic about it too. Trowa would go all analytical on him and Quatre would sympathize until he was ready to scream at the empathic pilot. And they would all haunt him. The idea of being stuck as a ghost with the other four badgering him for his decision for only God knew how long was more horrifying than the concept of disappointing Relena; a lot more horrifying.

He could make that decision later. It didn't look like they'd found any of them yet. But he was going to have to break his two year plus silence and get in touch with the others to let them know about this threat. They all had family or friends they would want to keep out of harm's way. The first thing he needed to do was organize what little he had to present it in a convincing manner. He might want to share it with Relena and the Preventers too. If he was going to talk to people again, however briefly, he might as well talk to everyone who needed to know.

It took another two days of hard work to sort the mass of material down to the handful of real facts and the best of the supporting information. Even then, the message was going to be over two gig's worth. He knew Quatre's computer could take a message that size and so could Relena's as of course could the one at Preventer HQ where he was directing the data to General Une and Wu Fei. He wasn't so sure about the units Duo and Trowa had access to. He might have to break those in two and send them a few minutes apart.

There was a cyber dive a few blocks away. It was popular with what passed for the more affluent of the local kids here. The minimal food wasn't poisonous, the drinks could be alcoholic if you paid under the table, and the cost to use the hookups was reasonable. If you didn't have a line at home, it was the best place around to go to do your connecting. He had an established persona he used to visit; he could go without raising any eyebrows. More importantly, the traffic at that site was tremendous. He was going to be hard to see in all that 'noise' even with the size of the files he would be moving.

He arrived with the first wave of kids who were cutting their last class of the day. Normally, this would be a good cover. Today it was going to be an excellent one. He looked around and wondered just what classes were giving what major tests that so many were here so early. This could also be a problem. There were going to be more people here than there were connections available before long. Better buy his time up front. He decided to pay for a private booth too.

He had no problem getting into Trowa's system. The circus wasn't set up to stop a hacker of his caliber. Quatre would probably have a small fit when he discovered the backdoor into his system Yuy had installed after the Eve War just so he could send vital messages like this in emergencies. Cracking Duo's system was a lot more challenging until he realized that, with only a handful of exceptions, every vicious trick in it was one he'd taught the American. He was inside in minutes after that.

The Preventer's network on the other hand was a real obstacle. It took him thirty minutes to decide he couldn't afford the time to do anything more than to pry the mail system open just far enough to send his messages. He used up almost all of the rest of his four hours doing so. In the end, he managed to get not only General Une and Wu Fei's sent but the one to Relena as well. He hadn't expected her to be in the Preventer mail system but she was. He slipped out of the cyber dive very pleased with his work.

He took the round about way back to the safe-house. Now that he knew there were people seriously hunting him, he wasn't going to make any careless moves. Only when he was confident that he was not being followed did he head home.

Back in his room, it was time to see what his gleaner program had been picking up while he'd been hacking other systems and sending messages. He never knew what it would find of interest and save for him to peruse later. Often the data was immediately useful.

He turned the machine on. As soon as it booted up, before he could make any selections, he found himself watching a video piece. It was showing him some kind of wildly jury-rigged machine with electronic components parked in odd places and cabling running everywhere. There was a very large, bell-mouthed _thing_ half buried in the middle of it all. He could see a clear view-panel ceiling and the hard, unblinking points of light that were the stars seen from space.

"Hello, Heero. It's been a long time. I wouldn't bother you, wouldn't even be telling you I wasn't dead, if things weren't getting very dangerous. I have some data I want you to seriously look at. Then I would like you to come see me. I know we didn't part on a good note but what I have to show you should at least convince you I'm by far the lesser evil. Do not go stalking out of the room! Watch, listen, and consider it all carefully."

Doctor J! That was Doctor J. How was that bastard alive? He was dead! They were all dead, killed in the last battle down in the Peacemillion's engine spaces where they'd managed to bring those engines online long enough to save the planet from Milliardo Peacecraft's intended nuclear winter. WHAT WAS HE DOING BREATHING?!?

It was the blazoned banner proclaiming the upcoming glory of the Crimson Dawn that jerked his attention off the Doctor and onto the screen. He watched the whole three hour presentation. It filled in several blanks in what he already knew but didn't answer any of the critical questions. As it went along Dr. J tossed in bits of commentary noting where or how he'd found the data. Some of the places were almost as interesting as the data itself.

He knew now that they were going to have to get Relena into hiding too. Just warning her wasn't going to be enough. She wasn't a target for murder yet, they needed her too badly as a figurehead. But they wouldn't keep her. Her courage and her convictions were too well known and too much at odds with these people. No, they would arrange something, probably the usual 'accident' as soon as her liabilities outweighed her advantages.

He made careful note of the directions for reaching the Doctor. The bastard was right; he didn't have much of a choice here. J really was the lesser evil right now. He hissed when he realized just how close the timing was going to be. It was a good thing he kept a decent supply of cash on hand because he was going to be spending it like water in the next few days and there wasn't going to be any time to steal any more.

What he wanted and what was necessary were two different things at this moment. He preferred to travel in carefully planned stages as inconspicuously as possible. Time, more correctly the lack of it, made that impossible. He was going to have to go quickly and openly on very public transportation.

He packed nothing but the essentials, slipped out along the wall to a point where the cell phone would work and managed to buy a plane ticket to London, and forced himself to go to bed. His internal alarm woke him seven hours later. One bath plus shampoo with a fragranced woman's conditioner and heavy use of a retardant cream that would inhibit what beard he did grow later, he sat down to become someone not even his former Gundam teammates would recognize.

When he was done, he both was and wasn't satisfied with the results. It had been a week before he'd come down with Cotton Lung when he'd last used this specific body suit, the only one he still had now; it wasn't surprising everything had to be snugged up a bit but it changed the entire silhouette. Those small changes made the final appearance startlingly different. The result was, what? Too something, disconcertingly too something. This was _not_ the inconspicuous disguise it had been the last time he'd used it.

Heero studied his reflection with care. He needed to identify what had changed so dramatically. So he forced his face into a neutral expression and scanned the reflected image carefully. He'd done his hair in that two-braids-tied-back style that Relena had made so popular and the basic dress he'd tossed on to judge the results was nothing worth noting. Yet, as he looked, he realized the total effect was anything but simple. But he still couldn't put a finger on the problem.

He backed as far as he could from the full length mirror. Maybe he was too close to it to see what it was. The eight feet he backed up did the trick. He froze. Oh shit, this was worse than not good.

The young woman in the mirror was beautiful. Not pretty, not attractive, flat out beautiful. It was built into the bones of her face and the almost perfectly dimensioned slender body. For reasons that had nothing to do with whatever unknown preferences he might have been born with, Heero Yuy was rarely attracted to any woman. But the image in his mirror was one, conditioning or no, he'd have unhesitatingly considered bedding. This was a _disaster_.

With a soft thump, he slid down to sit on the side of the tub. He had very, very limited options. He had to travel on public transit, there was no time to make any other arrangements. Traveling in public was safer if he didn't go as a male. His eyes still held too much of the assassin in them; people saw that when they looked at him as a guy. They tended to see something frightened and defensive when he went as a girl. The guy they were afraid and suspicious of. The girl got a lot of sympathy. People didn't tend to be at all afraid of 'her' either.

All right, what could he do to disguise the disguise? It was going to have to hold up for hours in public places with good lighting and he couldn't count on having any real chance to do more than very minor touchups. Whatever he did, it was going to have to last from the time he left this place until he got to his destination.

He studied the reflection as dispassionately as he could. He'd had to throw out his other two body suits recently when they'd been badly damaged on one of his undercover operations. There was no way to get a replacement for the suit he had on right now so he was stuck with this silhouette. Facial pads would be risky. Unless they were of very high quality, they had a dangerous tendency to move slightly after too many hours of wear. Even very small movement could drastically alter the appearance, a dicey risk during travel situations. The time he was going to have to keep in this character was beyond the service limits of the kinds of supplies he had on hand. Altering the face shape was pretty much out with what he had or could get in time.

This left what? Distraction, he realized. Find one item to focus the eye on to the exclusion of the rest. He tried letting his hair out of the braids to hang in his face, suddenly glad he hadn't trimmed the bangs yet. That, that was an improvement. He went with it. A hunt through his other supplies turned up a brand new pair of vivid green contact lenses. He added them.

Oh, this was good. The outsized green eyes behind the fall of hair suddenly gave the whole person a single focal point. They were stunning, grabbing the attention to the exclusion of really being able to see the rest of the face. He smiled. These would go perfectly with the outfit he had in mind too.

There was a touch of makeup added, more to enhance the eyes than anything else and the planned clothing proved to still fit comfortably. When he eyed the total image now, he saw the lenses had done the job precisely as planned. They couldn't completely solve the sex appeal issue but he already knew being very quiet would help there. Heero nodded, pleased with the whole thing. Problem solved, he could leave on time.

Half an hour later, six blocks from the now abandoned safe house, a trim and stunning brunette with clear green eyes caught a cab to the airport. She paid extra to have it all to herself. The driver would remember her as very quiet and moderately generous with her tip. When asked, he would be surprised to realize that, beyond those striking green eyes, he really couldn't describe her at all. He found he'd been too busy with fantasy to study the reality.


	2. Chapter 2

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Disclamer: I still don't own anything connected to Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. The OC's and the plot though are also still mine.

* * *

It had been a damn good trip! He looked at the last of the scavenged Taurus mobile dolls Howard was unloading into the yard with pride. This time, he'd been right about where to look.

"Oh, quit grinnin' like you swallowed a canary!" Howard ordered.

"Hey! Was I right or was I right this time eh?" Duo crowed.

The old man gave him a sour look. The chestnut haired ex-pilot had been insufferable from the moment they'd found the cluster of eighteen mobile dolls drifting just where he'd said they should be. They ranged from not to only moderately damaged too, making them valuable salvage indeed. Duo's share was going to be a very nice bit of change; he was already telling anyone who'd listen how he intended to spend it.

"You were right." Howard agreed, hoping to get rid of his too-eager help for a bit. "Now, will you just go on in and tell Hilde the good news? The market for parts off these suits has been booming for months, it'll end eventually. We need to know what to strip off first. I don't want to have a yard full of wrecked mobile suits the day the market goes bust."

"Sure!"

Wonder of the ages! It worked! The old Sweeper turned his full attention to arranging their newest finds so they could be quickly disassembled for their currently precious parts.

Duo Maxwell let himself in the back door of the main shop building. The store occupied only about the front fifth of the space while the rest held their offices and the warehouse for the most expensive of the smaller parts. He checked the offices but Hilde wasn't in either of them. As he approached the door to the store, he heard voices, one of them unmistakably hers. He intended to just walk out and join the sales pitch until he heard the visitor ask about gundanium.

"Nope," Hilde answered, "we haven't recovered any of that. Far as I know, the only things build out of it were the Gundams and they were all wrecked at various places down on Earth. I've never heard there was any out here to scavenge. Believe me, we'd grab it if we found it!"

"I understood there was a rather generous supply shipped to a lunar factory." The stranger remarked.

"Oh, that, yes. They built more Gundams out of it. Those were destroyed down on the planet too from what I've heard." Duo grinned as she lied so smoothly he heard nothing of it at all in her voice. "The Preventers went through that place right after the war and stripped it back to the rock walls. The Sweepers still drop by from time to time hoping to find something that was missed but if they've ever turned up any gundanium, they didn't brag about it or bring it to me for resale."

"I see. Well, here, take my card. I am interested in any more complete sets of thrusters you might obtain and if you ever should locate any gundanium, I would meet and exceed any other bid you might get."

"Be glad to. My partner is out right now following up a story about some mobile dolls. We may have more thrusters for you before too long."

"Mobile doll thrusters are very acceptable. I look forward to hearing from you."

Duo leaned forward just far enough to get one eye around the doorway. All he saw though was a rather tall, fairly thin man dressed too well for the neighborhood walking out the door. He did make note that the man had a slight tendency to favor his left leg and that he had hair so black it didn't look real.

He turned and gave a thoughtful look at a half dozen very small crates on a nearby bottom shelf. They were dust covered and if you bothered to wipe off the label it would tell you the contents were duralloy nuts and washers. What was really in them was strip ingots made from the few pieces of armor off various Gundams he'd found and stashed after the war. After all, he'd known where in space to look for more of it than any other salver out here.

So someone wanted to buy gundanium. Why? Not that there weren't a billion and one uses for the stuff, but the idea that someone who was buying many sets of mobile suit thrusters also wanted gundanium set off alarm bells in the back of his head. Just how many of their sets had he bought? And what other mobile suit or doll parts had he picked up?

"Duo!" Hilde jumped, obviously startled to find him just standing there staring at the shelf.

"Hi." He grinned. "Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you like that."

"Its nothing, I wasn't looking. How did the trip go?"

"We found eighteen dolls in pretty good shape. There's going to be lots of usable stuff to get off of them! Howard's out back with the guys getting them set up to tear down."

He paused, looked out into the shop, then turned back to her. "I happened to catch the end of that sale you just made. Just how much stuff did that guy buy?"

"All nine full sets of thrusters we had on hand. Paid asking price too." She replied quietly.

His eyebrows rose. "Asking price?"

"Yeah."

Something was going on here. This was a salvage yard. People came here to dicker for what they needed. There was damn little here that they could fix a price on and hope to get it. Too many other salvers were out there right now scavenging too much material. The market was viciously competitive. A complete set of thrusters from a mobile suit was valuable yes, but hardly unique. So why would anyone pay asking price? Especially since everyone knew they couldn't get it and set it artificially high to start the bargaining.

"Tell you something else Duo. I didn't like him. He was a perfect gentleman and as polite as they come and something about him just creeped me out. He's a false front and I don't think I want to meet what's behind it."

"Gottcha." He agreed. "Did he buy anything else?"

"No, nothing. And he wasn't interested in looking either. It was as though he was getting only one part here. There are enough yards like ours in the colonies that he could probably build an entire mobile suit by buying one part at each yard. If he is, I bet he doesn't look the same at any two."

"Or at least not the same at any two on any one colony." Duo suggested, thinking furiously.

"Before you get caught up in worrying about this guy, you need to check your mail. Two huge files came in for you, both of them from Earth and neither of them signed. The virus scanner says they're clean but you know what its worth if the worm is something really new. The first one came in almost a week ago; I don't think you'd been out the door an hour. The other arrived this morning."

That got his attention. Massive mail from Earth was likely to have very limited origins. Unsigned massive mail suggested unpleasant things. He retreated to the main office and the computer there.

He pulled both the enormous files off the main computer. They hadn't been opened and his sweep of his machine said if they were contaminated, it was something you had to access the file to activate. Well, that was what the portable was for, taking the risks he couldn't afford to have on the company's machine.

He opened the older one first. And damned near fell off his chair when he found himself staring at Professor G's unlovely face. What the hell! He was dead!

"Hello Maxwell." G said grimly. "'Pestilence' needs the 'God of Death' again. Tell me, does Shinigami still live inside you? We will all hope so. Pay attention. This information has been collected by Doctor J over the last two plus years and yes, he's alive too. You will not enjoy any of it."

G had that right. The facts were thin to none but the pattern was deadly clear. And now he knew just who the guy buying thrusters represented. He had a very good idea why he was looking for gundanium too. He committed the instructions on how to reach the rendezvous to memory. No way he wasn't going.

"You're going, aren't you?"

He looked up, not terribly surprised to find both Hilde and Howard sitting there. "Yeah, I don't have much choice. They'll get my name eventually and that'll lead them here. Both of you are going to have to find places to vanish into as well. And don't tell anyone where those places are! Above all, do not tell each other! If one is found, they must not be able to betray the other."

"Boy . . . ."

"No, don't start with me Howard. No one comes with me this time. It's going to be just the four of us, five if anyone can find Heero to warn him. We can't afford to have friends with us now. You're liabilities in the fight we're going to end up in."

"Can you win that fight Duo, just the five of you, alone, without your Gundams?" Hilde asked softly.

"No." The self-proclaimed God of Death replied with brutal honesty. "And that's why you are not coming."

"Lets see what's in the second message before you go handing out orders like that." Howard suggested. "Looks like G has a whole lot more data for you."

He nodded and opened it, to find a pair of dark blue eyes he would never forget staring out at him. The face was a bit longer, the planes more sharply defined and what there had been left of the child in his face a few years ago was completely gone. The brown hair was pulled back as tightly as Wu Fei's although enough of the bangs had escaped to hang over the eyes in the familiar way.

"Maxwell." The voice was deeper now too but still somehow the same. "You should have already heard from Doctor J. I'm sending you what I've been gathering that backs his data up. Pay attention. I expect to see you at the rendezvous point."

His hand slapped the pause button of it's own volition. It knew his brain wasn't in any shape to obey that order to pay attention yet. Heero, they'd found Heero. And he was coming too. Oh shit. This was worse than he'd thought. _Yuy_ didn't believe he could keep himself hidden.

* * *

"You're going. Just like that." Catherine was angry, he hardly blamed her.

"Yes. I let you see them both. You aren't stupid, you know why."

"They don't know you from a monkey!"

He turned to her quietly. "But too many others do. Whoever these people are, they have money and connections. They will find my name eventually. And it will lead them here."

"We can hide you! We hid you from Oz."

"These people are something more serious than Oz was." Trowa Barton replied quietly. "These are the fanatics, the lunatic fringe of Romefeller. You can see it in their writing and how they use words."

"I'm not afraid of them." She snapped.

He turned suddenly angry eyes on her. "You should be! Catherine, do you understand what Heero's message means?"

She blinked. "What do you mean? It was a huge pile of bits and pieces just like the one from Doctor J. Both of them were short on facts and long on circumstances. I fail to see why you think you have to run off because of something with so little substance in it!"

"I see." He continued to pack as he gave her ignorance some thought. "Let me ask you this; do you think Heero Yuy is a brave man?"

"I think he's stupidly foolhardy! He doesn't know when to run away! He scares me, he's so 'mission' focused."

"Good. Then maybe you'll understand when I tell you that by sending me that message Heero was admitting he couldn't handle the situation. That he believes he can't keep himself hidden from them. That they _will_ find him, and they _will_ kill him. Catherine, this time, even Heero is scared."

She stared at him, slowly going white. She hadn't been able to like Heero Yuy but she'd accepted Trowa bringing him back with him the once when the other boy was so badly broken he really should have died. He'd frightened her. There had been so little humanity in those haunted, deep blue eyes. The idea that there was something out there that could frighten someone like him was frankly terrifying.

"What do you expect me to do?" she asked quietly.

"When they come, and they will, just give them both of the messages. I've already erased the brief visuals on the front of them. They won't get any look at Doctor J or at Heero. And I moved the audio with the instructions for reaching the rendezvous to the end along with Yuy's remark about meeting me there. The data will be of little use to them really without those faces. I washed both tapes through a good system here in town, that's where I was last night, and now neither the Doctor's voice or Heero's is quite what is should be. If they're going to try lifting a voice print, well, they won't get a reliable one from anything you could give them."

"Just hand over the tapes." She sounded completely confused.

"You can't hide the circus." Trowa said wearily. "And the circus is not equipped to fight people like these. Give them what you have and they should let you go. The alternative is to see everyone here dead. The tapes aren't worth that."

"I, . . . . . ., I see."

He picked up the backpack. "I'll do everything I can to survive and to come back Catherine. Please, don't get yourself killed while I'm gone."

"How, Trowa, how? You don't have a Gundam any more."

"I don't know. I simply know that I can promise that I will do everything I can."

He had no answer for her question really. What he'd said wasn't an answer so much as it was words to fill up the empty space so she wouldn't notice it was empty. He gave her one last hug and slipped out of the trailer. His scooter started on the first try and he turned his back on the life he'd build for himself after the wars. If he was going to save any of it, he had to get away from it now, before the shadow came looking for him here. He needed to be in Bucharest by morning. There was supposed to be a ticket waiting for him there.

* * *

"I oppose this Master Quatre."

"I know Rashid." The young blond head of the Winner empire looked up to meet his angry friend's eyes. "But there is no other choice open to us. Anything else puts the entire family and all our people at risk. I can't do that. We both knew something like this was a possibility. I am a Gundam pilot. There are a lot of people with a lot of very emotional responses to the Gundams, and to us. Not all of them are happy ones."

"We can protect you! It is our responsibility to do so!"

Quatre Winner just shook his head. He stood by the window, eyes thoughtfully surveying the complex of residences and shops that made up the town that existed in the shadow of the tower of the Winner office building. Those people, they were all in danger as long as he stayed here. He was too public a figure.

"I can't hide here Rashid. There are too many innocents around. I've been responsible for too much death already. I won't add to that toll needlessly. There is no place I own that I could go to hide that wouldn't entail endangering more innocent people. I don't have the right to do that. I never really did. No, the Maganac are needed to protect our people as a whole, not me as an individual."

"You are the leader of the Maganac. Why don't you understand that we feel an obligation to protect our leader? And you are well loved. The thought that strangers would threaten you over this, years after the Sandrock was gone, it angers us."

"I understand. I truly do. But in turn you must also understand that this isn't like the war was. Nothing will be done in the open. There will be no formal battles where weapons can be used casually and whole areas laid waste by fighting. This will be a shadow war. And they have already hired the Old Man of the Mountain. We are strong in many things but we aren't assassins and it is an assassin's war we're facing. The best we have has already admitted this is more than he can master. If Heero can't handle it, then none of us can. He is the best trained of all of us for this kind of conflict and he's coming to the meeting, not staying away to watch from the outside."

The older man just glared. Quatre looked right back, his own gaze much softer but no less determined. And in the end it was the younger who won. Not so much because he was the head of the Winner family as because this time, he was right.

"You will at least take the company plane." Rashid said flatly. "I will insist on that much."

"I will accept that much." Quatre replied calmly. "And I want one of the older work shuttles prepped and ready to leave on very short notice too. I have a feeling this is going to take us all back into space. I don't think we should be depending on public transportation if it does. I want the load on the shuttle to consist of survival supplies, including lots of water. We may have to pretend to be war junk for a while, I don't want to get too hungry or thirsty doing it. Oh, include a wide variety of games too. You don't know what terror is until you've been cooped up in a small space with a bored Duo Maxwell and an irritable Wu Fei Chang."

The Maganac vice-commander grinned. He'd met the long-haired American space colonist. He liked the boy, but a birthday party for a dozen six year olds on sugar highs had less stray energy than Maxwell did. He could only imagine what being trapped on a small shuttle with him would be like. He'd also met the Chinese Preventer and could easily picture the disaster of forcing the one into close proximity with the other. Yes, he would definitely include many forms of diversion.

When he finally got his subordinate out of his office, Quatre opened a drawer and lifted a heavy folder out of it. He picked up his favorite pen and flipped the folder open. He was going to have writer's cramp before this was done but the only way he could disappear had to include proper, legal, distribution of the power he held as head of the family. These documents would assure that the Winner interests were protected no matter what happened to him. He started signing papers.

* * *

The intercom on her desk chimed quietly. General Une, commander of the Preventers, gave it a dirty look. She was busy, damn it! And she'd left orders not to be disturbed with only a handful of possible exceptions. That her secretary was calling meant one of those exceptions had happened.

"General Une here. What are you calling for?" She managed not to snarl at the inoffensive bit of machinery.

"General, Captain Chang is here."

Oh, that exception. "Send him in."

Seconds later the door opened and the slender Chinese officer entered. He closed the door firmly behind him and marched briskly to a point about four feet in front of her desk. There he stopped, saluted, stared over her head and announced, "Captain Chang reporting as ordered."

She wasn't pleased to have him staring off into space. It meant he was mad. Well, so was she.

"Sit down, Captain, we have some things to go over."

He obeyed, back straight as a laser shot. Once forced down onto her level, he met her eyes coldly and with his usual fearlessness. Very little ever seemed to startle or upset the former Gundam pilot. She wondered if this conversation would prove to be an exception to that rule.

"Captain, I sent for you because our computer network was hacked last night."

"I do not see a connection. I am not a programmer."

"No but your friend Yuy is." That got the reaction she had been hoping for as his eyes widened for a split second before he could regain control of his face. "I had our IT people do some checking. It seems you and I were the recipients of a pair of very large mail messages from Yuy last night. What he sent me actually confirms some things I've noticed on my own. I've already begun some preparations in case this situation deteriorated as badly as it looked like it could. He's confirmed my judgment. I am now confident it will be even worse than I was expecting and that it will happen sooner than I can be fully ready for it."

"Crimson Dawn." Wu Fei said quietly. "Or perhaps it will be called the Red Flood."

Her eyes narrowed sharply. "So, we did get the same data. At least this time. Would you care to tell me about the message from Doctor J?"

The still face gave nothing away. Then he reached into his shirt pocket. Two discs came out, held in his fingers. He offered them to her. She accepted them.

"They hold the entire message. I've edited nothing."

"Yuy said something about seeing you at the meeting. What is he talking about?"

"Doctor J has asked all of us to meet him. However he has the trip broken into stages for security's sake. At the first one, where we will all get together, he will have instructions for the next stage. At that one, for the one after. When we've played connect the dots long enough to make him happy, we will meet him. He has a plan that he claims will make us impossible to find. Given the resources of our enemy, it seems all of us are willing to listen. I have put in a request for emergency leave, beginning this afternoon."

"I'll sign it." Une said firmly and leaned over to call her secretary. Only when she was sure the woman knew what she wanted and knew where in the system to find it did she hang up and turn back to the still form of the ex-Gundam pilot.

"I suppose I'll have to send Ramirez and his team out in your place." She grumbled.

"Send Hooper. Ramirez can't find his plate with his fork and his pilots are no better. Sending them up there is an open invitation to every smuggler in the district to run through that sector."

"I can't send Hooper. His father died unexpectedly last week, heart attack. He's on bereavement leave for another ten days. I have no valid reason to call him back early. Captain Ramirez is fully qualified; on paper."

Chang's head tipped very slightly and his eyes went out of focus for a second. "I wonder, . . . ."

"Yes?" She prompted when he stopped there.

Eyes sharp again he smiled tightly. "Given what we know now, I wonder just how bad Jose really is, and who he really works for."

She grunted. It was time to get Chang out of here. He saw too much. He was going to say too much one of these days and get himself killed. She told him as much and he gave her a smile she'd never seen from him before. It was something very dark, very merciless, and very bloody. She suddenly realized she'd just seen the real pilot of Gundam Altron for the very first time since the Eve War.

Someone had made a major mistake. Someone had let the Gundam pilots know they were hunted. They were driving the team back together. Worse, they were driving them back in time mentally. It would take perhaps two or three days together and they were going to be the kind of never-say-die enemy they'd been before. They were older now, better trained in the ways of the world and far better balanced as human beings. If they had been deadly before, the fools who were forcing them back into the old ways were going to find they had something even more dangerously competent on their hands now. All they lacked was their machines. And if Doctor J was really alive, they might not lack those long. For the first time since she'd heard what the government was going to do to the Preventer's budget this year, General Une began to see a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

The secretary delivered Chang's request for emergency leave shortly afterwards. As promised, she signed it, and formally filed it, leaving him free to depart at once. Une shook his hand and wished him a good trip. He managed to say thank you without stumbling over the words and fled.

She looked down at the discs he'd given her. They were a bomb waiting to explode. But like a bomb, if used properly, they could become a tool. She was going to have to share this information with at least four officers. She couldn't be everywhere or do everything herself. Indeed, there were places it would be completely unnatural to find the Commander, places someone was going to have to access if they were going to start siphoning off resources to stockpile against the coming trouble. She slipped the discs into her personally coded safe. They would have to wait until she knew who she was sharing them with.

* * *

Relena sat quietly in the dark study, alone with her thoughts. The office was busy outside her door, the night shift hard at work keeping the functions of government going. They had no idea she was there and she had no intention of letting them find out. They thought she'd gone to bed hours ago like a good girl. Her mother thought that's what she'd done.

But she had too much to think over to do any such restful thing. Heero was alive. Her feelings on that alone would take weeks to sort out.

However, in typical Heero fashion, when he surfaced after an almost three year vanishing act that no one had been able to penetrate, he'd brought a nightmare with him. She didn't want to believe in this shadow threat, this 'Crimson Dawn'. She wanted to believe in the peace she'd spent the last years working every waking hour of the day to try to build into something that would last.

"Damn you Heero! You have so few facts and so much circumstantial evidence. No court in the world would hear a case built on whispers and shadows like yours." Her voice barely reached the far side of her desk.

"But no court knows you like I do. I've seen the recordings Zechs had from the Tallgeese of the day you self-destructed the Wing. There was no fear in you that day, only determination to carry out the mission. The idea of dying didn't frighten you at all. But there was something that looked a lot like fear in the back of your eyes on that message you sent me. Somehow, I don't think it is your own death you fear now. You believe these people exist. You believe they are even more dangerous than these little bits and pieces you have can show. You expect them to kill people who matter more to you than your own life does. You've come back to protect those people as best you can."

She stared sightlessly at the light-washed paleness that was the city's version of the night sky. "You intend to die with them if you can't save them. I wonder if you, any of you, understand that none of you will be happy about that. You all want to save each other. You all are willing to die yourselves to do it. You are all idiots!"

"Gundam pilots!" She muttered in a tone that suggested they were all complete fools even though she knew better.

They had been true child-soldiers; taken young, held away from all others and trained ruthlessly. No wonder they'd become so effective and so efficient by fifteen! It wasn't their fault! Every study of such children ever done pointed out how completely emotionally dependent they became on their handlers. If you had to blame someone, blame the right someone! Blame Dr. J, not Heero. Or Professor G; he was the one really guilty of anything Shinigami had ever done. You couldn't honestly begin to hold Duo Maxwell responsible until he'd broken free of that control. It was the same for the others. Trowa hadn't even been accorded a _name_ until he grabbed one for himself from a dead man!

She'd practically demanded that they give up their Gundams and embrace her ideals of total pacifism. And, they had. They had sent them into the Sun once. The outbreak of unexpected war had forced them to reclaim them before they were destroyed but once that was over they had unhesitatingly accepted her order to demolish them. The pilots themselves had sought out ways to live without weapons or fighting. Only Chang hadn't but he'd chosen to take his need for battle into the Preventers, into the service of humanity. They deserved a chance to be left alone to become normal people.

Relena's glance flickered across the two discs sitting in lonely splendor in the center of her otherwise empty desktop. Heero had sent his message. Another had come from someone else who was supposed to be dead as well. She might, just might, have been able to talk herself into ignoring Heero's warning. But not when Dr. J backed it up with one of his own.

So the pilots, her friends really, weren't going to get the chance they deserved. The world wasn't going to get the chance for peace it had worked so hard for either. And she was going to have to decide where she was going to stand in all of this very, very quickly.

For while Heero had sent her a warning, Dr. J had sent her a promise of war. And he'd made it quite clear what he thought her fate would be if she stayed where their enemies could find her. She had the directions to where to meet the Gundam pilots, to join them on their way to meet with the Doctor. Now, was she going?

* * *

The room was completely unlit. The four who sat at the table didn't need light. They wore shapeless capes and infrared goggles. The first provided disguise for the body and the other allowed vision while hiding most of the face. A voice distortion mask completed their ensemble.

"The Sun is demanding a progress report on locating the former Gundam pilots. Blade, what do you have?"

"Nothing." 'Blade' spat. "I've wined and dined every senior government official I can without generating suspicion. We discuss a wide range of topics. We always manage to touch on the Gundams but none of them will admit to knowing any names."

The leader waited but Blade added nothing. Perhaps more important, neither of the other two offered a word of criticism. So, they had nothing either. Damn! This wasn't amusing.

He went through the motions but, as expected, neither Sword nor Rapier had any more to offer than Blade had. He knew how they all felt. He'd come up dry as well. Perhaps it was time to change the focus of the search.

"We've been at this for almost six months now. Between the four of us, we've pretty much combed the top ranks of government and society. It has gained us nothing. We know at least two people who know the names we need but they will not speak casually and the time is not ripe to move more forcefully against Dorlian or Une. It is time to look elsewhere."

"Where?" Sword challenged. "Where would you have us look now? We're searching where we are because these are the people who _should_ know!"

"Yes, in a rationally organized society, the leaders would know. But we must keep in mind that the society we are currently dealing with is not rationally organized. It is very clear that those who should be accepting the responsibility of leadership, who should have the information at their fingertips, are abrogating their responsibility and are letting others keep the data for them. We are looking too high. We must step back and assess each of these so-called leaders to find their key information people. Those people are now our targets. Each of you is to change your appearance and activate your level three cover persona. I want you ready to move locations in two days, set up in your new site by five."

"Are you mad?" Rapier demanded. "What do you expect me to do with my current cover?"

"You kill it off." He replied coldly. "I don't care what kind of accident or incident you devise but in the next three days your current persona must be legally dead. Am I understood?"

"Will you accept four days?" Blade asked. "I will have an unparalleled opportunity to not only 'kill' myself but to remove an entire caravan of useless parasites at the same time. I am supposed to go with Senator Locke to Flatwoods Gorge to attend the dedication of the new bridge. A properly timed rock fall and no one will even question the lack of a body or two."

"For such a tailor made situation, yes, four days is allowable. Sword, Rapier, do either of you have anything like this you can use?"

"Only if you are willing to grant a serious extension." Rapier replied. "I'm scheduled to attend the Air Show in Paris but that's not until the end of next week. However, I could use it to bring a plane down on the reviewing stand. You have said repeatedly that you wished someone would just kill Prime Minister Le Beau. Given that he and his entourage will be in the center of the stand, well, it is very doubtful they could escape."

"That's, . . . . , that's very tempting." He admitted.

"Take it Cutlass. You're not going to get a better shot at the bastard before Crimson Dawn itself." Blade said quietly.

"You have a point. All right Rapier, you have your extension. Sword, what about you?"

Sword shrugged. "Nothing that I can make happen in less than three weeks. Even then it would only be a single car accident. But I would be taking Director Knoop with me. It would open that hole you wanted to advance someone onto the Dorlian bitch's cabinet. Or I could have a drunken accident on my own tomorrow night. Your preference, sir."

"Actually, it will be his Excellency's decision." Cutlass replied. "Again, you offer too good an opportunity to simply turn down. But I can not accept this on my own authority, the time frame is too long. I will get back to you by tonight."

It was the end of the meeting. They left singly until only Cutlass remained. He folded and stacked the chairs against the wall and closed up the table to lay it over them. This room was rarely used by anyone other than the four of them but it was unwise to take chances and leaving the chairs and table set up would be taking a very large one.

He left through the main door, sliding the night goggles off as he did. The dim lights of the locker room were almost painfully bright to his night adapted eyes. He hung the camouflage cape on its hook, put the mask in the bin with the others and dropped the goggles onto the shelf above his own locker and took out the paperwork he'd supposedly been working on the past few hours. By that time his eyes were adjusted and he was ready to face brighter light. He settled his jacket neatly across his shoulders and stepped out into the hallway.

He was perhaps half way to his office when he heard someone calling him.

"Captain! Captain Ramirez!"

He turned to see Colonel Stoner's driver trotting over. The boy stopped the correct distance out from an officer and saluted. Pleased to see he'd finally learned something, Ramirez returned it.

"Captain, the Colonel wants to see you as soon as possible sir."

"Did he happen to mention why corporal?"

"No sir, not to me."

"Is Captain Chang coming as well?"

"Oh no sir! He requested and has been given emergency medical leave. He left base over two hours ago."

"Chang? A medical emergency?"

"That's what everyone is saying sir. General Une herself signed his papers. It must be immediate family."

"I see. I need to drop these fitness reports in my office. Tell the Colonel I expect to be there in five minutes."

"Yes sir!"

So Wu Fei Chang was off on emergency leave. That was interesting, very interesting. Especially since he'd never heard the other man ever mention family or even friends. Talking about home was the number one pastime in the military and in the Preventers. But Chang didn't discuss his home. Or his past for that matter either. Everything anyone knew about Captain Chang began the day he'd first put on a Preventer uniform.

Where had he come from? Where had he picked up his formidable skills with hand weapons? He was a superb martial artist. Who had taught him? For that matter, who taught him to fly a space fighter? He was posting top scores from the day he walked in the door, no one did that without serious training _and_ experience. But a Crimson background check hadn't turned up any Wu Fei Chang in any of the military organizations of the Eve War or the Mariemaia revolt. There was a Chinese Gundam pilot but not even the Mariemaia records had included his name. Nor had there been a picture as he recalled.

Ramirez trotted up the steps to the office, mind racing furiously. He'd never paid much attention to Chang. The man had a stick up his ass and was boring on top of it. He ate, slept, and breathed his own abstract notion of 'justice'; something that seemed to be just close enough to the Preventer code to allow the inflexible Asian to work within the organization.

He was sarcastic, critical, and had a nasty habit of being right that he made no effort to hide. He had little tolerance for failure and none for stupidity. He did grasp being out-gunned but seemed to have trouble with the idea of being out-thought. Weakness in any form irritated him. Why had someone like Chang ever enlisted in the Preventers in the first place? It seemed so out of character really.

But his team was fiercely loyal to him. They accepted his ridiculously high standards and worked furiously to rise above them. And he was as loyal to them. One did not strike at any of the Chang team without striking at all. And if you did, they all struck back. Their unity made them the single most effective unit in the entire organization.

Something had been overlooked here. Unfortunately it was beginning to look like it might be something significant. After all, how many nineteen year olds were there who could do all the things Chang could do at the level he could do them? And perhaps most interesting of all the questions, why would General Une sign his leave papers personally? Captain Jose Ramirez found himself staring at the painfully neat desk, devoid of all personal touches that sat across from his, a very unhappy suspicion beginning to bubble in the back of his mind.

"Just who are you Wu Fei Chang?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

I did promise to have an explanation for the yaoi. Here it is.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

New Heathrow Air and Spaceport, London, England was not a place Duo Maxwell had ever expected to find himself. The crazy place was huge, full of people going every which way and babbling in more languages than he'd realized were still spoken. At least the signs were written in a language he could read, the spelling was a bit strange in a few places but he was finding his way around well enough.

He eventually located the blue concourse and gate seven. His plane was supposed to be loading here. A check of the board over the ramp confirmed he was in the right place. A look at his fellow passengers suggested something else.

Time had added a few inches to Duo. From the roughly five two he'd been at fifteen he'd gradually lengthened out to just over five five. Hard physical work in the yard and a flat muscle body type had kept him looking both lighter and slightly younger than he actually was. So when he'd mumbled something about disguises, Hilde had had an instant idea. Now he was standing in this airport dressed in the latest in colonial fashion, surrounded by several hundred people all wearing identical outfits. Talk about sticking out in a crowd!

"Miss," A young woman not much older than Duo materialized at his side. She was wearing an airline uniform and smiling at him with that gentle, professional look. And she'd just called him 'Miss'. He let her get away with it. That was what the get up was for after all. Nothing he had on was gender specific. Up to and including the broad scarf around his neck that hid his Adam's apple and the thigh length tunic that prevented one from seeing his crotch. The addition of four years had taken his face from boyishly cute into a truly handsome but quite androgynous phase. His fine chestnut hair, still worn in the long braid, had a lot of people expecting to see a girl instead of the young man he was even when he wasn't wearing deliberately confusing clothing.

"Miss," The airline representative repeated. "Are you with the Kramer Agency Tours?"

The question explained why all these people were dressed alike. They were part of a large tour group. The matching clothing allowed the tour managers to be sure they could recognize their charges at a distance and round them up when it was time to move on.

"Ah, no, I'm not." Duo smiled back, holding out his ticket, thinking very black thoughts about Doctor J and his bloody sense of humor.

The girl took his ticket and verified that he was indeed supposed to be on this particular flight. With that confirmed, she pointed out a small area of seating not occupied by the tour group. He headed for it gratefully.

He ended up happily sitting beside a girl with long, shimmering, deep chocolate hair that effectively hid her face. She was also dressed like a colonial except she was wearing a long formal skirt with a heavily embroidered hem that matched the work on her tunic. She was reading and didn't acknowledge his presence at all. It was ok, for some reason. She just made him feel comfortable by being there. That she was somehow sexy as all hell was just an added bonus.

Fortunately for him, they began to board the plane about ten minutes later. Everyone but the girl and himself got up when they called business class. Oh wonderful. He was going to be trapped in coach with the tour group. He wondered where they'd been and how many bad pictures he was going to have to look at and find something polite to say about them.

He suddenly realized the girl had moved. She was almost up to the boarding ramp. He snatched his carry bag and glided over to join her.

She had a great sense of timing, he was going to have to give her that. No sooner had they gotten to the head of the ramp than the announcement began that they were going to begin boarding the tail section of the plane, where he had his seat assignment and where he was quite sure she had hers. They were the first two down the ramp.

"Welcome aboard." The stewardess offered them the usual greeting.

"Thank you." The girl was very soft spoken but Duo had sharp ears. "How far back is row seventy one and where would seat b2 be?"

"Row seventy one is the last one on the plane." The stewardess pointed unnecessarily down the length of the monster they would be flying on. "The b section is in the center."

"Thank you." The girl said again and walked swiftly down the narrow aisle.

He followed her. He had b3. So if he didn't want to be climbing over her, he needed to catch up and ask her to let him go first. He just managed it as they arrived at the row.

"Ah, I heard you ask the stewardess about your seat." He said, and she turned to look at him somewhat suspiciously he thought.

Green eyes, she had green eyes. He could _drown_ in those eyes. They were so dominate it made him wonder how many guys ever looked beyond them. But he was Duo Maxwell and he was trained to see past distractions like those eyes. The hair still hid a lot of the face but what he could see was all smooth planes, clean lines and those large, clear eyes. She hadn't ruined it with makeup either. Just a touch of color on the eyelids and a bit on the lips. Damn! She was as pretty as she was hot!

"I've got b3." He held out the seat assignment sheet. "Would it be all right with you if I just went in first?"

She just stepped back by way of an answer. He flashed her a bright smile. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome." She replied softly.

That simple civility was where the conversation stopped. As soon as she sat down and fastened her seat belt, she pulled out her book and shut the world out. He thought about trying again and decided against it. There was something intensely private about this girl. Associating with a few other very private people had taught him that respecting that privacy was a faster way inside it than banging on the door. At least he was free to admire quietly.

The area around them filled quickly except for the seats to either side of the girl and himself. The banging of luggage was pretty much done and the drone of voices was rising when he suddenly saw a very familiar shock of hair. Stepping carefully around someone's kid, Trowa Barton was working his way down the aisle. And there was only one seat left open for him to be headed for. Sure enough, he stopped beside the girl, checked the seat number and slid into it.

Duo made a snap decision. He'd recognized Trowa but he didn't think Trowa had spotted him. He wasn't going to tell him either. Then it got even more fun. Prowling down the other aisle like an angry shark, and clearing it for ten feet or more ahead of him using attitude alone was Wu Fei. His face was impassive and his Preventers uniform impeccable but irritation and 'do not mess with me' rolled off him in waves.

In an instant when Wu Fei's eyes were focused with sharp recognition on Barton, Duo flipped his braid onto Chang's seat. The guy needed to lighten up. He found himself remembering any number of ways to unwind one Wu Fei Chang. Of course, most of them needed room to run and he was a bit short on that right now. But there were some that should do even in the tight quarters of an over-full airplane. Duo couldn't see it, but his eyes were beginning to dance. Suddenly he knew this trip was going to be _fun_!

* * *

By the Winner family's standards, the lake house Dr. J had suggested they use was tiny. It only had four bedrooms and a single kitchen. But it was less than five miles from the end of public transportation and it wasn't on the books as a Winner Enterprise property. The site was walled on all four sides with gates only on the drive and on the walk to the boathouse. The security system could be set on automatic, allowing one person to run everything. It suited Quatre's needs perfectly. Perhaps most importantly, it suited his need for privacy perfectly. He had agreed to use one of the family planes to get here, he hadn't agreed to anything else. So he hadn't felt at all bad about it when he'd managed to lose both his bodyguards in one of the biggest shopping malls in the world to slip away to this house.

The house was almost fifty miles out of the city. The Winner properties in and immediately around the city itself were extensive. Commercial interests aside, there were over a dozen large apartments, five true mansions, and several prime penthouse suites on long term leases. When you added back those commercial sites with safe-house capability, well, it should keep eyes busy else where for a few days. They shouldn't need more. Actually, he had a feeling they probably wouldn't be here much more than overnight.

He'd been here since mid-morning. Now all the beds were made, towels were set out in the baths, and a selection of cold meats and breads were available for making sandwiches along with a generous supply of sodas. There was neither beer nor booze this time and it wasn't because of his religious objections. None of them needed fuzzy heads, no matter how much any of them might want one.

With everything ready, time hung heavily on his hands. The rest were due in at any moment now and he was getting nervous waiting for them. He drifted back to the office and the security monitors just to have something to watch besides the kitchen clock.

His house stood at the end of a side street so it saw very little traffic even during the height of summer when most of these houses were open. Now, just into fall, his was the only one with any lights on. So he noticed the girl walking down the road immediately, especially since she was dressed in Colonial, not local, fashion.

The streetlight distorted all colors so all he could be sure of was that her blouse was light, the tunic something medium, and the skirt dark. Her hair seemed to be fairly long and the bangs needed trimming badly. She had something tossed over her right shoulder and she moved like she was used to walking long distances. She was very slender and had surprisingly broad shoulders for a girl with her build. As she passed the sign that marked the road as a dead end, he was able to determine she wasn't very tall. The bottom of the sign stood five feet eight inches off the ground and the girl had passed under it with three or more inches to spare.

The girl walked right up to the guard door at the gate and tried it. When she found it locked, she stepped to the side and entered the correct code on the touch pad. Quatre stared at her. Who had his sisters sent to babysit him now?

In the clean light of the guardroom, the blouse turned white, the tunic a soft green and the skirt black. The tunic and the skirt were heavily embroidered. Her hair, and it did tumble almost to the small of her back, was a rich chocolate brown. She was staring unhappily at the second security lock that blocked access from the guardroom to the grounds. This one required not only a different code but a retinal scan.

The thing over her shoulder turned out to be a backpack. She set it on the tiny table and wormed what looked like a contact lens case out of it. Her hand absently hooked her hair behind first one ear, then the other as she removed the lenses she wore. Quatre could see they were not only large enough to cover the whole eye but bright green as well. So, she had been wearing them as disguise.

The real color was blue, a very, very deep blue. And with most of the hair out of the way he knew who he was looking at. The very first thing that popped into his head was it was a shame Heero really wasn't a girl, because he made a very lovely one. The Arab's second thought was how unwise it would be to ever mention the first thought.

Quatre met Yuy at the door. "Welcome. It's good to see you again."

"Thanks Quatre, it's good to finally be here."

The blond used the brief exchange and the moments between getting the door shut and closing the few steps between them to study his former comrade. Yuy was too thin, far too thin. He had that oddly fragile feeling to him common in those who'd made it through a really bad case of Cotton Lung. He hadn't really recovered yet either. The problem, Quatre decided, was diet related. Whatever Heero'd been doing, eating well hadn't been included for a long time.

But that very same excessive leanness contributed to an impression of startling beauty. The security camera hadn't done him justice. Nor could it convey the impact he generated just standing there. Quatre found himself wondering how often people tried molesting him when he was disguised like this. The degree of pure physical attraction was something he'd never encountered before in someone who wasn't trying to draw that kind of attention. Yuy appeared to be oblivious to it. He dragged his mind out of that gutter and invited his friend into the back for something to eat.

The backpack accompanied them into the kitchen despite his offer to take it upstairs for the obviously tired Zero pilot. Yuy mumbled something about a computer and Quatre understood. One did not come between Heero and his computer, not if one valued their life. Instead he put protein, complex carbohydrates and simple sugars in front of his friend and let him get started on a meal. He frowned slightly when it only took one modest sandwich to blunt Yuy's appetite. No, Heero wasn't used to eating much at all any more. He made the man a second one and dropped it on his plate before he started asking any questions.

"Tell me, do you do this very often?" He asked, waving at the outfit the other was wearing.

Yuy snorted. "No. It attracts the wrong kind of attention when I'm working. I only do this when I have to travel out in the open on public transports. I usually wear a wedding band as well. Not that it stops all the would-be Romeos but it cuts the numbers rather dramatically. I could wish I made a homelier woman."

Keeping his mouth shut took a major effort. Heero seemed to know what he was thinking anyway. Well, he'd looked in the mirror when he put that disguise together and he wasn't blind.

"Quatre, that's why I use this. No one looking for a Gundam pilot is going to give the girl I currently seem to be a second glance. We have this idiot's reputation for being some kind of super soldiers with the planet's worst case of testosterone poisoning. No one, and I mean no one, is going to be looking for a Gundam pilot in a skirt!"

"Well, no, _I_ wouldn't have." The blond admitted. "Especially not if I was looking for you."

"You'd be appalled at some of the places I've been able to walk out of because I let my hair grow and don't let some ideal of manly pride get in the way of survival." Yuy said feelingly. "The enemy sees a girl. One who says yes sir and no sir and who does just what she's told. It's saved more than me more than once."

He wondered how considering the whole effect. "What have you been doing?"

"Watching the crumbling underworld that Relena and the rest are trying to build their bright new dream on top of." He replied wearily. "That's where I first began to hear whispers of this Crimson Dawn. I've been tracking those whispers for just over two years and you've read the most concrete stuff I've found in all that time. It isn't much. No, it's pathetically little for all that work. But I can tell you one thing. The underworld is getting bigger all the time. Relena's reforms aren't reaching deep enough. The people down there believe in her, they can see she is trying to help them. But they can see her work being blocked and siphoned off or outright stolen too. Crimson Dawn will have a _lot_ of early support."

"I see."

Heero looked up thoughtfully. "You might want to know that Winner Enterprises and the other Winner interests that have active employment down here on Earth are fairly well thought of. Your fair hiring practices have worked heavily in your favor. They'll help the companies survive word getting out that you're one of the pilots."

"That, . . . , that's good to know." Quatre replied slowly.

"Have the others checked in with you yet?" Yuy asked in an abrupt change of subject.

"No, nothing yet."

"I wonder if Maxwell got them lost."

"What?"

"Oh, they were in the process of renting a vehicle when I decided just taking the train to the end of the line and walking sounded faster. Especially with Duo planning to be the navigator. Considering just how mad Wu Fei already was at him and how often Trowa will have to be peacemaker instead of driver, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't misplaced at the moment."

"What did Maxwell do this time?"

"Well," Heero let the corners of his mouth turn up in a small smile, "let's just say I'm not the only one who realized the advantages of being taken for a girl. And he's had the hair for it for years. All he did was let Wu Fei see what Wu Fei wanted to see."

Quatre could feel his heart sinking. "For how long?"

"The entire flight from London."

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes." Yuy's smile got wider. "The four of us had the center last row in the plane. Trowa on the far left, me, Duo, and Wu Fei on the far right. Somewhere between the over-sugared request for a pillow and the batted eyelash thank you somewhere over Ireland, Trowa recognized him. Wu Fei never did. They went the whole trip with Maxwell coming up with annoying little errands for Chang to run and fawning all over him until he did it. Really, it was funny."

He thought about it and added, "I suppose it was even funnier to Trowa and me because so many of his 'errands' were just the kind of things he used to try to get him to do during the war. You could see Wu Fei considering more and more elaborate forms of murder as the flight went on. Maxwell, being Maxwell, didn't know when to stop so just before landing, Trowa had to step in and blow his cover before Chang did something everyone would have regretted."

"What were you doing all through this?"

"Sitting quietly, reading. Trying desperately not to laugh and blow my own cover. I think I did it well enough that none of them spotted me."

Well, maybe not as Heero Yuy, but they would have to have been dead and buried not to have noticed him if they shared a tightly packed seat row on a plane with him. It said a few very good things about the other three that Heero still had no idea what effect he had on other men. Someone was going to have to tell him though. He couldn't be doing this kind of disguise any longer. It was far more conspicuous than he seemed to realize. He was saved from having to think of a smooth way to keep the conversation going by the chime of the security alarm.

Heero's reaction was automatic and instant. He was on his feet, looking for the monitors. Quatre pointed him in the right direction and followed, it was easier than trying to lead.

Yuy gained almost four yards on him as he dashed up the hall. In doing so, the Arab caught his friend in a near perfect silhouette. His eyes widened as he suddenly recognized where at least some of the impossible degree of sex appeal was coming from. He could practically hear that psychologist his oldest sister had imported to teach sex education to the family daughters. Some of the information had been very enlightening. Subliminal species imprinting indeed! He hurried to catch up.

"Duo is picking the gate locks." Heero told him. "Fairly successfully I might add."

"How? Those locks are designed to break anything as fine as a lockpick!"

"One made of gundanium?" Yuy asked. "He's wearing the stilettos disguised as hairsticks and the lockpicks disguised as hair ornaments he had made from the bit he salvaged from the Deathscythe. Their space black is quite striking up against that strong chestnut hair of his. People see the design work and the contrast between the colors. They don't see what else things of those shapes could be used for. The color disguises the material they're made of too."

"Oh, he's cheating again."

"There is no such thing as cheating in breaking and entry. The whole idea of doing it in the first place makes considerations like cheating irrelevant."

He had to concede the point. Duo was going to be through the lock in the next minute or so, he needed to make a couple of quick decisions. The first one was to keep his systems unbroken. He unlocked the front before Duo could actually crack the gates. He appreciated the muffled snicker behind him as Heero watched the expression change on their friend's face when he realized he hadn't broken in, he'd just been _let_ in.

"I'll let them in the door, no need to have Maxwell test his skills there. Why don't you go back to the kitchen? You haven't finished that sandwich and you can defend your chair from the others."

"What you mean is I can defend my computer."

"Yes, that too." Quatre smiled.

"I'll start some coffee. I don't think feeding Maxwell extra sugar at this hour is a good idea. Unless there has been a lot of change, once he starts on soda, he'll go through three or four cans and be up to all hours."

"Pot's in the cupboard on the lower left. The regular stuff is in the blue jar on the counter. If you want to get exotic, the more unique blends are in the airtight bins on the right hand center, third row up from the bottom in the cool room in the basement."

"He'll be into the soda before I could find the cool room." Yuy replied wryly as he headed back to the kitchen. "The house blend is fine."

Quatre nodded, not sure if coffee was going to make any difference or not considering how much sugar Maxwell poured into his. But Trowa and 'Fei would appreciate it and it was obvious Heero wanted some so why not? Besides, he knew he would have had it ready if he'd known just when they were going to show anyway. He hurried up the corridor to the front entry.

He opened the door before Duo could get his picks into the lock. "Honest, I don't mind letting you in."

"Well, yeah, I know." The disappointed American replied, sliding his 'toys' back into his hair. "But your doors are a challenge Q-man! Its more fun doing it that way than it is just ringing the bell."

Quatre decided not to let that topic get going and just craned his neck to stare past Maxwell. "Where are Trowa and Wu Fei?"

"Oh, they didn't travel as light as I did." Duo told him cheerfully as he sauntered into the hall. "They're still struggling with their luggage."

"Not true!" Wu Fei's voice shouted. "Now come back here and help with the groceries!"

"Two bags!" Duo yelled back. "That's one bag each. What's to help with? I didn't even buy any of it!"

"But you do plan to eat it! Now help!" The angry Chinese came stamping out of the darkness, travel case in one hand and grocery bag in the other.

"There's nothing for him to help with." Trowa said quietly as he followed the infuriated Preventer. "Would you please just calm down?"

"After he humiliated me in front of an entire plane full of strangers? No!"

"Strangers! You don't care about the strangers." Duo laughed. "It's that girl between Trowa and me you're all upset about!"

"Maxwell!" Two voices snapped together. Trowa's tone was cautionary, Wu Fei's enraged.

Quatre blinked. The girl between Duo and Trowa? His mind abruptly clicked over. Heero?!? He didn't know if he should laugh or start running. He settled for closing the door behind Trowa.

He smiled at them as Duo pretended to hide behind Trowa as Wu Fei snarled at him. They really looked good, like time was being exceptionally nice to Gundam pilots. Trowa still stood half a head above him but Wu Fei wasn't that much shorter than the acrobat now. He had become the middle one; Duo not having grown all that much in the last four years. But even at that he was taller than Heero. How odd. He'd never have expected the Zero pilot to end up the short one of the team. He'd always thought that was going to be his role eventually.

Neither Barton nor Chang had bothered with a disguise. Maxwell on the other hand, made almost as fetching a girl as Yuy did. Quatre decided to break up the argument before it could get out of hand so he walked up and grinned appreciatively.

"Nice outfit Duo."

"Thanks Q-man. It was Hilde's idea. Came out pretty good if I do say so myself."

"It was unnecessary." Chang growled harshly.

Duo snapped around, quite clearly genuinely angry now, only to have a very familiar voice catch them all. "You don't know that Wu Fei. He may have been smarter traveling in disguise than you were going as yourself."

Quatre looked up. Heero was standing quietly in the dining room doorway, green contacts back in his eyes. The sheer beauty of the 'girl' hit him all over again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the stunned faces of the other three.

"I have coffee started. Get in here, we need to talk." Heero vanished back into the kitchen after issuing his orders.

"Was that,. . . . . . . . , ah, was, . . . . . . . . . , Heero?!?" Duo asked in open shock, his huge eyes no wider than Wu Fei's or Trowa's.

"Yes," Quatre replied calmly. "Just leave the bags on the stairs and bring the groceries."

It was Trowa, calm, unflappable Trowa who recovered first. He wormed Duo and Wu Fei's bags out of their hands to stack them on the stairs beside his own. Then he gave them each a small push between the shoulder blades to get them moving. The Arab smiled at his friend. It was good to know he was as reliable as ever.

Predictably, Duo marched straight up to Heero and right into his personal space. Not so predictably, Heero tolerated it. Maxwell slowly examined the disguise from a range of scant inches. Yuy stood like a stone statue right up until the hyper American tried tugging on the hair.

"Eyouch!" Duo yelped as Heero's hand closed like a vise on his wrist. "Damn it, Hee-chan! That hurts!"

"So does having my hair pulled." Yuy replied evenly. "Now stop it."

The American's eyes widened again. "That's yours? All yours? Shit! I thought it was a wig. Sorry man!"

"Wigs have a bad habit of coming off at the wrong time." Heero replied flatly, but Quatre was glad to see him let go of Maxwell just the same.

"It's a very efficient disguise." Trowa noted as he checked to see how ready the coffee was. "I spent most of the flight half watching you and never suspected you weren't a girl."

"You shouldn't use it." Wu Fei said bluntly. "Someone's going to try to help themselves to the girl you seem to be and that won't be good."

"I know." Heero replied. "But it was the most effective disguise I had on hand when J got hold of me. Unfortunately it took him long enough to reach me that there was no time to try to put anything else together. And in all fairness to the idea, it wasn't this, ah, distracting the last time I used it."

Duo grimaced as he stepped back. "Distracting isn't the word Hee-chan. Even though I know who's under there now, I still find a big part of me wanting to jump you. I'd really suggest you find something else for the next stage of the trip."

"Hn." The familiar grunt wasn't really an answer. Rather to Quatre's surprise Yuy quite deliberately caught Wu Fei's eyes and held them until Chang, now flushed a startling red, looked away. The blush raised some questions in the Arab's mind. None of which were answered as his friend repeated the performance with first Trowa and then Duo. It was only when he found himself locking gazes with Heero that he began to understand.

The Japanese pilot was neutral, completely neutral. But Quatre discovered his reaction was anything but. The longer he stared, the sharper it got. Worse, he realized he was responding, not to the disguise but to Heero himself. What was going on here? He jerked his eyes away and stared anywhere but at Yuy.

As he did, he began to notice what else was going on around him. Duo was studying the floor tiles like they were the image of his lost Deathscythe. Trowa was in some kind of shock. Chang had collapsed into a chair and buried his head in his arms on the table. Only Heero seemed unaffected. The operative word though was 'seemed'; Quatre could feel the heat coming off the Wing pilot from across the room.

"Heero," he asked quietly. "What is happening here? You know, don't you?"

Yuy nodded slowly. "I said we have to talk. This is one of the things we really need to talk about."

"Wanting to jump you when you're dressed up like a girl?" Duo snapped. "Any guy alive would want that!"

"Can you look any of us in the eye and say I'm the only one you suddenly find yourself interested in?" Heero returned softly. "Can any of you?"

"No." Trowa spoke up quickly although he didn't look up. "And before you ask, it began on the flight over here."

Heero nodded slowly. "And you were attracted to all three of us about equally, correct?"

"Then, yes." The acrobat poured himself a cup of coffee and slid into the seat beside Wu Fei. "But now that we're here, I'm finding myself drawn most to Quatre."

Duo looked up, uncertainty and anger flashing across his face over a base of sincere embarrassment. "Ok, since we're all being so honest here, I'm more than just aware of all of you but Hee-chan better change or watch out."

Yuy wouldn't meet anyone's eye now and there was a definite flush on his face too but he ploughed on. "I understand that. And I'll admit I'm drawn most to you too Duo. But if, ah, things, got out of hand, I'd probably accept any of you."

"Don't look at me Yuy! I'm not interested!" Wu Fei snarled.

"You lie." Heero replied dispassionately.

"I do not lie!" Chang shouted.

"According to Master O, yes you do." Yuy stared hard at him, the dark blue eyes peeling off layers as Quatre watched. "None of us are blind, 'Fei. All of us are fairly hyper-aware of each other at the moment. I'm not Q-man but even I can read your interest. And I'm not talking about just your interest in me either."

"Is the O-guy still around too?" Duo growled. "Damn! I thought having J and G back was pain enough."

"As far as I know, Master O is still dead." Heero said wearily as he slid back into his own chair at the table. "But I have read some of his records. They were, . . . . . . . . . . . . enlightening."

"Where did you find those?" Trowa asked with interest.

"They were in with other data Oz recovered after they destroyed Wu Fei's home colony." Heero turned to his startled teammate. "I'll show you where to find it. It's your heritage after all."

"What were you doing poking through those records in the first place?" Quatre winced, Chang was really angry now.

"I didn't 'poke through' anything. The only items I was looking for were Master O's records. I've been hunting for data from all of our teacher/handlers. There is a lot of our own history we don't know. I was searching for it. I still am." Yuy replied calmly.

"Chang, please, be upset later." Trowa laid a steadying hand on the other's shoulder. "I want to know what this is all about."

"I . . . ."

"Oh shut up Woofers!" Duo snapped. "You want to know what 'Ro found just as much as the rest of us! You can pick up this fight later if you still think you have to."

The Preventer clearly did want to know. He subsided with no more than a single growl and without yelling at Maxwell for mangling his name. Trowa let his hand drop off Wu Fei's shoulder as the still irritated Chinese settled back to fume quietly and listen closely. All of them turned expectant eyes to Yuy. He did not disappoint them.

"We're conditioned." Heero told them flatly, his voice suddenly empty of all hint of emotion. "It seems to have been Instructor H's idea. Makes sense really. We were kids half-way through puberty and they were sending us out with the most powerful war machines known. Turning us loose with the Gundams _and_ unfocused hormones would've been stupid. Whatever else you may say about those five, stupid they weren't."

This time it was Duo who put it together instantly although Quatre wasn't more than a second or so behind him. "They all knew about each of us even though they didn't tell us about each other. You're saying they set up to _want_ each other? They _planned_ on having us shag each other?"

"Yes." Heero replied in the same dead tone. "They wanted us to keep our hormonal drives inside the group. They even set up the pairings."

Still running on overdrive, Maxwell made the next connection immediately as he turned a curious eye on Wu Fei. "Why'd they leave 'Fei out of the setup? We don't seem to have any obvious threesomes."

"He had a wife." Yuy reminded them quietly. "And she was supposed to have been the Shenlong's pilot. _He_ would have been _her_ balance. He didn't become a pilot until she died. When that happened, they suddenly had one too many guys in the mix. So they conditioned him to see any of us as acceptable for his needs and the rest of us were readjusted to be willing to accept any of the team at their need. G pointed out to them all that specific pairs were going to be a problem anyway. They'd be back to square one if half a pairing got killed with no acceptable substitute for the survivor. We'd have no preferences at all if the early conditioning hadn't proven impossible to completely erase."

"That's fairly disgusting." Trowa remarked to the kitchen at large.

"Agreed." Heero snarled, his tone suddenly laden with more emotion than they'd ever heard from him before. "But it does make a revolting kind of sense."

"Yeah, can't have us endangering the mission by laying some unknown girl!" Duo hissed bitterly.

"Exactly." Yuy agreed, his tone a perfect match for Maxwell's. "The problem is, we weren't really expected to live through the first war. Truthfully, I don't think any of us expected to either and I know the rest of you weren't as suicidal as I was back then."

"The conditioning is still in effect." Quatre stated the obvious just to get it said and out of the way.

Heero just nodded, suddenly looking a lot more tired than angry. "Yes, no question about it. I know just how limited I've been and just looking at you I can see none of you seem to be doing any better than I am."

"How does that explain Hilde and me?" Duo demanded.

"Simple really, we can't subtract from our original conditioned responses but we can add to those we allow inside our circle. Trouble is, they have to be people we see as 'worthy'." Heero finally reached for the coffee Trowa had poured earlier, absently adding more sugar than Duo usually used.

Quatre watched in fascination as the former Perfect Soldier, who drank his black, knocked back the whole cup in a few large swallows, apparently without noticing the sweetness at all. Could you say distracted? No, could you say 'blind rage'. Because that was what he could see now in Heero's eyes even with the contacts getting in the way. The Japanese pilot was far more than simply resentful of what he'd found had been done to them. It was a very good thing that they weren't going to be meeting J or G anytime in the next couple days.

"I added Hilde?" Maxwell sounded confused.

"Yes, you did. But you are the only one of us who did. So you can respond to Hilde and I can't. You see her as 'worthy'. I, well while I do like and admire her in a way, I don't seem to see her as 'worthy' enough. And by the way, that definition is pretty tight. Whoever any of us adds to our personal circle will be someone we see, at a minimum, as being almost as good as we are." Heero smiled grimly. "Our standards are still very high people. Hilde is inside the line for one of us but I haven't heard of anyone else making it. We are programmed to reject anyone who can't keep up with us. Even now, with all of us falling out of the training levels we were at then, there aren't all that many who can meet the criteria."

"How about Relena?" Duo asked quietly.

Heero hesitated, then answered slowly. "I'm not sure. There never was any chance to test anything and I couldn't have done that to her anyway. I'd like to think so, but I have no proof and I'm not going to try. I have nothing to offer her."

The Arab gave a silent sigh and poured his troubled friend a fresh cup of coffee. That relationship was full of knots and wasn't likely to ever lose many of them. Even if they could somehow set her position aside, they couldn't set his life on the shelf beside it. Heero was far too conscious of being who and what he was for that to be possible. Until he could fully accept himself as a human being, there was no hope for anything between them but friendship – and even that would be hard-bought given his mindset. Quatre was almost shocked when Heero, apparently not noticing what he was doing, once again put something close to a quarter of a cup of sugar in coffee he would normally have drunk black and again downed it all in a few scalding swallows.

It was Trowa who forced the conversation away from that problematic topic without opening any new cans of worms. "So we're all bi then?"

Yuy grabbed the change instantly. "Not really. We're whatever we were born to be. The conditioning just sits on top of our natural base. What it does though is block any expression of ourselves besides the one it wants. We, . . . . . ., we can't act on anything else. It makes what we should have been pretty irrelevant."

He nodded at Duo. "He can function with Hilde. He wants to. So chances are he's not a natural homosexual. But in this group, he'll be stuck with being one since none of us are women."

"That . . . . . . ., that's wrong!" Wu Fei cried. "No one has the right to do anything like this to another!"

"No," Quatre agreed softly, a bit shocked at just how angry he found himself. "But it seems they did anyway. I think I want to speak with J and G about this."

"For what it's worth, those two seem to have gone along with the idea fairly reluctantly." Heero said neutrally. "They agreed because it was so practical. I'm not excusing them, I just want it noted that of all the things they did to us, this isn't one they did without real soul-searching. Although I'm not sure how much soul either has. I've got the data copied on my computer. You can read the letters they exchanged for yourselves and decided how you want to think of this after you have the facts."

"That's fine." Trowa said. "But, where does that leave us right now?"

"Well, given what I'm seeing and feeling, almost certainly sharing rooms tonight." Heero replied bluntly. "We haven't seen each other in years. Unless I'm getting this completely wrong, we're all under pretty significant pressure. I, . . . , I doubt we'll be able to ignore it very long."

And he wasn't looking forward to it, Quatre could tell. Duo and Wu Fei weren't happy about this but they weren't nearly as upset about it as Heero was. He exchanged one fast look with Trowa and knew there wouldn't be any real problems there. 'Fei seemed to have half an eye on Duo already too. Maxwell was going to be busy tonight.

With a small sigh, Trowa got up and saw to it everyone had fresh coffee. Determining that this conversation had hit at least a temporary end, Quatre began to pile meat, cheese, bread and cookies on the table. The American took the food and saw to it that everyone had the sandwich they wanted. Heero set up his computer and Wu Fei took it over to read everything he could that Yuy had on the subject. The Zero pilot sat quietly in his chair and nibbled on his food. No one really had much to say as the meal progressed. Even Maxwell, who could talk through anything, was eating in introspective silence. This time, Heero was aware enough of what he was doing to not add anything to his coffee either.

Taking a long sip of his own coffee, Quatre considered the information. In a way, it was a relief to know this now. Trowa had attracted him from the very first. It had been a strong attraction and a very sexual one. He'd never understood it and it had made him very uncomfortable back then. The very few times it had overwhelmed them and they'd acted on it had left them both uncertain even while it had soothed the physical issues. It was good, very good, to have a rational explanation.

In some ways, despite the sordid nature of the true source of the pressure, it was actually liberating to understand the whys and wherefores of the pull. This was not something going, well, wrong, with either of them at all. It was imposed from the outside. He could live with it. No, more than that, he could let himself _enjoy_ this now that he knew the truth.

They cleaned up after the meal on autopilot, falling back into patterns left over from the Eve Wars. Yet once the kitchen was spotless, no one seemed to want to pick up any conversational threads. Heading upstairs was something of an unspoken but common consent. It was late after all and all of them had had long days. Still, the tension was there.

Trowa settled at least one issue by immediately moving himself into Quatre's room. The other three refused to look at each other as they each grabbed one of the three open rooms. No, there was nothing settled there.

Duo was the last one out in the hall when he tapped the Arab on the shoulder before he could disappear into his room with Trowa. "Q-man, if Heero is right and this is gonna get out of hand here, what kind of supplies are available?"

Quatre turned at the softly spoken question and smiled a bit wanly at his friend. "This is a small house Duo. It is usually used by family looking for privacy. You'll find everything you need in the bathroom. Since we never know who is going to be here or which rooms anyone is going to have, they are all fully stocked. Oh, and it might help to know that my father had the whole upstairs heavily insulated and fairly well soundproofed. He knew what was going on, he just didn't want to have to be aware of it at the same time."

"Smart man, your dad."

"Americans aren't the only pragmatists in the world you know."

"Guess not." Maxwell grinned. "Extra bedding?"

"There is a linen closet for each room in their respective baths. Oh, and because of that, uhm, privacy thing, the mattresses all have soft vinyl cases on them. Making the bed neat again won't be a problem."

Both Duo's eyebrows rose on that bit of data. "That's a bit more than pragmatic even for an American! I'm kinda surprised someone with your dad's money bothered."

"One does not amass or keep a fortune by wasting money." Quatre pointed out calmly.

"Probably not." He agreed. "Never had one so I couldn't say for sure. Still, I appreciate the info."

"Good night, Duo."

"I should be so lucky." The American grinned. "I kinda think I may be up 'till all hours here."

Quatre grinned back, then slipped into his own room and shut the door. That wasn't a conversation he wanted to get too deeply into. Besides, Trowa was waiting for him. And this time, there wouldn't be any guilt issues in the back of either of their heads.

It was a bit past midnight when they got out of the shower, for the second and final time. The tensions that had dominated them ever since Trowa had gotten to the house were gone, at least for a while. Quatre's experience was limited true, but it still had been the best evening of his life. Amazing what understanding a situation could do for your outlook on it. Even more amazing was what an improved outlook could do for how you handled the situation. Kicking guilt out of their bed had done wonders for them both.

"Pajamas?" Trowa asked as he paused by the dresser.

"I don't see any reason to bother." Quatre replied happily. "They'll only be in the way in the morning."

The acrobat just smiled. "You have a point."

Quatre tugged the fresh sheets down and scrambled into bed. "Come on, we need some actual sleep if we're going to enjoy the morning."

"I suppose." The one bright green eye he could see was laughing at him as his partner joined him.

The conversation was interrupted by a muted but still shrill shriek. Trowa rolled instantly toward the side chair and his gun sitting there. Quatre however, twisted around to start slapping the headboard.

"No! We can check from here! The security monitors are built into the bed."

"Check then but I'm still getting the gun. If we need to move quickly I'd rather not be wasting time fetching it."

By the time he had the weapon in hand and had turned back to the bed, Quatre had the system opened and was checking the various monitors. The external units were clear, as the Arab had expected. In fact, only one showed anything that could account for the cry they'd heard. The small blond stared at the screen, then began to snicker.

"Heero seems to be in a, well rather unexpected position." Trowa said with amusement.

"You mean you never expected him to be the center of the sandwich!" Quatre laughed.

"Very true," he agreed, leaning closer to study the image. "Duo behind, Wu Fei in front; efficient. Hey! Have they, . . . . . .?"

"Keeping Heero's hands out of it was actually smart of them. I'm a bit surprised he agreed to it though."

"Chang better let him breath before long."

Quatre grinned. "I would guess he's doing that to keep the sound down."

The gun was set quietly on the nightstand beside the bed. "I don't think I'll need this. I must admit I'm a bit surprised by what you seem to have around for people to use."

"Not my handcuffs." Quatre denied. "They're probably Wu Fei's. He has his full kit with him."

"Ah, makes sense. They do look like they're having fun. Well, I'm not so sure about Heero. He's looking more stunned than anything else."

The blond sighed softly. "He may be. He isn't the only one who's been looking for those records by the way. We seem to have found some different ones too. I doubt Heero'd appreciate what I've learned. I'm not sure I should share with him for a while either. It would probably upset him badly."

"Do I ask?" Trowa enquired politely, making it clear he would take 'no' for an answer.

Quatre shrugged. "It's simple really. Think about the war. How many opportunities did we really have?"

"Damn few."

"Right, and what I've found suggests Heero had far fewer chances than we did. Duo's remarked more than once on how rigid he was when they were both at those boarding schools together. You've never mentioned anything happening when you traveled with him while he was trying to get the Noventa family to kill him. And nothing happened between us when we escaped Oz and fled to Sanq. After that, there wasn't much else that was more than overnight or while in Oz prisons."

There was a long silence, then a soft, incredulous question. "First time? Now? At _nineteen_? After all he's been through?"

"It's very possible. Nothing I've found indicates Oz ever stepped over that line while he was their prisoner and aside from one of us, they are the only other people to have had the chance. The records I've found, the Oz records that is, are very clear. They were far too afraid of him to chance getting him that angry. If they'd thought they could have managed without getting slaughtered though, they certainly would have. Sometimes, a murderous reputation can actually be protection." Quatre reached up and closed the headboard. "If this is it, you must admit it's a very educational first time."

"Yeah!" Trowa rolled over, looking rather like he'd been smacked in the head. "But I don't think I'll be stupid enough to ask him."

"Me neither." The Arab grinned wickedly. "I might ask Duo though."

"Never let Heero find out if you do."

"I won't."

"Quatre?"

"Yes?"

"I think you may be right about the wisdom of keeping his hands controlled if your guess is correct."

"Ah. Well, I'm not going to ask about that either."

"No!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

And now for the crossover part.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

A small breeze flickered through the packed auditorium and teased his hair, setting his bangs to falling in his eyes again. He sighed silently. It would be so nice if, just once, his hair would behave itself for one of these public occasions. He glanced enviously at the perfect hair of his former rival. His eyes went back up to his own unruly bangs and he very carefully tried to unobtrusively blow them out of his vision. That effort got him a very fast and quite sharp elbow in the ribs.

"Stand up straight and at least _look_ interested Yamato!" Joule hissed without moving his lips. "The cameras follow you whenever they leave Lacus. Now support her properly!"

He managed to avoid either rubbing his suddenly pained ribs or glaring at Yzak. Neither one would be helpful at the moment no matter how much better they might make him feel. Besides, Joule was right. He was here to support Lacus and failing to give the proper impression to the people of the PLANTs would not qualify as support.

The irony of the situation however was not helping him. He was standing to his lady's right, wearing the same blindingly white ZAFT Commander's uniform Yzak Joule wore. For someone who'd started out just over three years ago as a civilian on Heliopolis, become an Earth Alliance ensign, then an Aube Admiral and now to suddenly be a ZAFT Commander, well, it was all a bit much. He also knew it pissed off Joule and he couldn't blame the man. Yzak was proud of his uniform and his service. He didn't think promoting a former enemy officer over most of the rest of the ZAFT was either fair or appropriate. Kira agreed with him but was not in a position to tell him so; anymore that he'd been in a position to refuse the honor when it had been dumped on him. He was coming to really hate the 'necessities' of politics.

There was a sudden burst of enthusiastic applause. Kira didn't have to have been paying any particular attention to know where Lacus was in her speech to get that response. He knew she'd just announced the general amnesty for all ZAFT personnel not charged with real offenses or part of the senior planning/command positions for the late Chairman Dullindal's Destiny Plan. He was glad she'd stuck to her guns and hadn't let anyone talk her out of this. He'd heard how things had been handled at the end of the last war and had no time or patience for anyone who wanted to blame the troops for having bad leaders. He did wonder though just how everyone was going to take the next part of her plans.

He watched her wait with smiling patience until the applause died down before she raised a hand to ask for silence so she could continue. When she got it, she graciously acknowledged the courtesy of her audience. Yes, Lacus was turning her pop idol's training easily into this new field of politics. Very privately, Kira mentally admitted just how he bitterly resented this necessity. He watched her smile on the huge monitor at the back of the auditorium that let those on the stage see themselves as the public was seeing of them.

"And now we must come to the matter of the unit known as FAITH." Lacus said soberly. "It is beyond question that the majority of those entrusted with the vast power holding the FAITH badge gave them were men and women of the highest integrity who never abused that authority. Unfortunately, there were others who carried the badge solely to enable them to further a specific political agenda."

She sighed quietly, the entire room waiting in absolute silence for her to continue. "Because of this failure of their personal responsibility, the trust the people of the PLANTs had in the membership of FAITH has been broken. Some have gone so far as to suggest arresting all who carry the badge and sorting them out by court-martial. This is an unnecessary extreme. The records are still available. It is possible to know who did and who did not betray their trust. But we of the Supreme Council also know that we can not continue with FAITH as it has always been."

Kira watched her blue eyes become determined and earnest, a change that started to pull her audience along with her before she said another word. "We must remake FAITH. The concept, a small group with the authority to act as a developing situation demands without having to waste valuable time seeking permits or approval, is a very good one. However, it was a power handed out too freely and for the wrong reasons in the last years. Moreover, it was exclusively given to military personnel as it had been thought only they could use such powers effectively. Yet not all crisis situations are military in nature or require military solutions."

He began to study the reactions of the audience on the large monitors. This was where they all knew Lacus was going to begin to make some serious enemies. There were people out here, members of the various individual PLANT councils, who had vested interests in the system as it currently stood and who were going to lose power and authority with these changes. They would not be happy about it and some few would not stop with just feeling hurt over it.

Lacus rolled on, not giving anyone time to react yet. "By making this change, FAITH will become responsive to the total needs of the PLANTs. The new FAITH will be limited in absolute numbers as well. No more than fifty individuals will hold the badge at any one time. The appointments will vary in duration. Formerly, once given a badge, a person was a member of FAITH until they retired or were relieved of the responsibility for some gross offense. From now on, that will not be universally true. Many members will serve for decades. Others will be temporarily appointed as the needs of our situation require. When their crisis is ended, they will step down from FAITH to resume their personal lives. Thus we will have the ability to call upon whatever skills the times demand without allowing the organization to grow to an unmanageable size again."

"I spoke of FAITH as an organization. Yet it has not really been one to date. Members were appointed by the Supreme Council Chair and reported only to that office. No one member officially had more authority than any other. This has led to confusing situations where differences of opinion regarding how to handle a situation between individual FAITH members caused dangerous delays of action." She looked around and very few would meet her eyes; they all knew of those, fortunately few, incidents where lives, property, or bare survival had been jeopardized by interpersonal infighting between members.

"We will therefore have a true structure for our new FAITH. The company will have a specific Commander, who will be responsible for watching over his people and keeping things flowing smoothly in times of stress or danger. Each member will have a place within the body of the company. Rank will be somewhat fluid as the individual with the most skills in a specific crisis will have to be the one in command but such situationally driven changes in rank will not be permanent."

He watched the monitor as she continued to lay out the structure for the renewed organization. He saw a lot of uncertainty. He saw outright disapproval. But what surprised him was just how much positive response there was to her ideas. It outweighed the ambivalent uncertainty and the actual disapproval by a significant margin; a much bigger margin than he'd ever allowed himself to hope for really. Andy Waltfeld had been right again; the people of the PLANTs really _did_ want to trust the people of FAITH. And Lacus was handing them a way to restore that trust on a shiny silver platter, with all the modifications and internal controls for the system a Coordinator could want.

Still, he took careful note of those who weren't so happy. Most would probably be won over in time. They weren't really all that upset. There were a handful though that he didn't think would ever forgive these changes. One or two were going to have to be watched. Even he could see their anger ran far below the surface.

". . . . I would nevertheless chose a military officer to fill the office of Commander." Lacus' words suddenly grabbed his attention again and he stiffened; had she listened to him or not?

"In many ways this will be a thankless task that I will be asking this brave man to take on. He will be charged with not only rebuilding the organization anew but restoring the public trust. He must do this while helping guard our homes from dangers within and without. Yet I firmly believe him more than capable of doing this." She smiled, a sweet, winning smile that caught her audience like honey trapped flies.

"He is a veteran of both wars, a man of high courage whose judgment has steadily grown over time. He is experienced in the dangers of politics. He is a fine leader, an officer whose people look to him with complete confidence that he will lead them well. And while many will argue against his youth, I can only say that you have trusted me to lead the PLANTs and he is older than I."

She turned and Kira relaxed as her twinkling eyes crossed his briefly; she had listened. "Commander Yzak Joule, will you accept the charge to lead the new FAITH?"

For a few moments, Kira thought Yzak might finally have met the surprise that floored him. But as shock faded, intense thoughtfulness followed it. Commander Yamato found himself nodding, a rather grim smile on his own face. No, this was not going to be a job anyone would want, not if they had brain one in their heads. But it was one that needed doing. And Joule was not thoughtlessly grabbing at fame any longer. The judgment Lacus had praised was showing in front of everyone right now as he _considered_ the offer with the care and evaluation it deserved.

As he watched the former Duel pilot, he knew he would accept the challenge. Yzak could see too many opportunities to help the PLANTs to turn it down. He could see the potential pitfalls too, that showed in his eyes as well. But he'd accept those risks for the chance to make a difference. Yes, Yzak would do it, and he damn well do it right!

The blue eyes burned as Joule looked up at last. "Madam Chairman, are you sure I am your best choice?"

"Yes I am." Lacus replied firmly. "Through two wars and the peace between them you have always sought to serve the PLANTs. You put your service and people ahead of your personal ambitions time and again. When the decisions became hard ones, you always chose for the PLANTs first and foremost. You did not count the cost to your career or even to your pride. You simply did what you had to do to preserve our homes and people. Even when it meant you had to relinquish your long planned revenge on a very personal enemy. I believe that strength and that judgment can now serve us best rebuilding one of our honored institutions. Will you accept?"

"Yamato?" Joule asked under his breath. "I expected her to name you."

"I told her to appoint you." Kira replied just as quietly. "I'm not a child of the PLANTs."

Yzak went very still. "You what?"

"I told her to appoint you." He repeated. "Because you can do the job. Because you belong to the PLANTs. Because your name is both clean and respected. And frankly, because I want to see it done right."

"_You_ trust _me_ that much?"

"Yes."

The quiet exchange had taken place too softly for the mikes to pick up the words. Care on both their parts had kept their mouths still enough to make lip-reading impossible. It wasn't anyone's business anyway. This was just between him and Joule. But it was something the other needed to know before he made up his mind. They had too much history to move this forward without clearing the air a bit.

Yzak blinked twice, then stepped forward slowly to salute Lacus with flawless precision. "Madam Chairman, I will do everything in my power to be worthy of this honor."

Kira's smile was bright and honest as Lacus pinned the new FAITH badge onto Yzak's uniform. It was very similar to the old one but the center boss had been somewhat enlarged and a scroll and sword had been added to it. These symbolized the new emphasis on service to the PLANTs as a whole. The rolling thunder of applause was all he could have wished for. Yzak Joule was more popular than he knew himself.

When the applause ended, Lacus explained the duties and responsibilities of the new office as envisioned by the Supreme Council. Joule listened quite seriously, nodding at several significant points. But it was when she told him he was going to be allowed to select his own Deputy Commander that his eyes narrowed in some inner consideration. And the look was outright crafty by the time she'd finished laying out the few limits the Council had decided to put on his range of choice. Kira's own eyes narrowed. He knew that look. Yzak was getting ready to upset a lot of people and he wasn't going to apologize for doing it.

"Madam Chairman, is this requirement that the Deputy Commander be a citizen of the PLANTs a final decision?" Joule asked suddenly.

Lacus blinked. "Well, I suppose the Council could consider an individual who was simply a member of the ZAFT. Not all previous FAITH members have been PLANT citizens but they have all at least been in ZAFT."

"Thank you. The man I have in mind is not a citizen but he does meet the second requirement. He also has a very wide range of experience outside of the PLANTs. FAITH will have to deal with external influences now. We will need someone with broader horizons than most available."

"I see," Lacus said slowly. "Just who are you considering?"

"I want Commander Kira Yamato."

As what he'd said sank in, the entire auditorium fell silent. Kira stared at Yzak in shock. He could not have said that, he couldn't!

"Have you lost your mind?" Kira yelled before he could stop himself.

"Hardly." Yzak replied coldly. "You were dragged into the Earth Forces in the first war and you stayed loyal to them until they betrayed your friends. Not until they betrayed you, you could accept that. But you could not accept the betrayal of those you swore to protect. You entered Aube's service with your ship and your friends. And you have served them just as loyally. You would still be an Aube Fleet Admiral if your sister, Chief Representative Athha, had asked you to stay. Instead, she released you to stand by Lacus Clyne. And so you entered the ZAFT, to serve Lacus. Your loyalty can not be bought and it is not for sale. Nor have you ever broken it. If you accept this office, I know I will be fully able to trust you. And that is one of the most important things that can be said of any officer of FAITH, that they can be trusted."

He was staring Kira right in the eye now and it was Kira who was getting uncertain. "You have never been an enemy of the PLANTs themselves either. Oh, you fought ZAFT and you were no friend to two of our governments but you never even thought of destroying the PLANTs themselves. I was there at Second Jachin Due, Yamato. I watched your Freedom and Zala's Justice destroy the vast majority of the nukes the Earth Alliance fired at the PLANTs those two days. Two separate attacks and you met them both. While you were officially our enemy. Because you don't believe in genocide and you don't hate the people who live on the PLANTs. I know for a fact that the destruction of those PLANTs lost to the Requiem was something you felt deeply and bitterly. You would have destroyed it for that alone; the fact that it was being turned on Aube was simply an added incentive for you."

Yzak stepped closer until his eyes were only inches from Kira's. "You chose to follow Lacus. You chose to accept an appointment in the ZAFT. Well Yamato, I say you're needed to bring that diverse experience of yours to the rebuilding of FAITH and the defense of the PLANTs. I believe in your loyalty and your integrity. I want you! Are you too chicken to accept?"

Kira lowered his head so the cameras couldn't follow his thoughts and considered the situation fiercely. Taking that badge wouldn't really make him any more of a target than he already was so that wasn't a problem. It would make him Yzak's subordinate though and that could be a huge issue. At the same time, the way Joule had set this up, he was going to lose a lot of his effectiveness if he refused. Could he afford to give up any of the ground he'd gained in the ZAFT that was allowing him to protect Lacus? Honest answer, no. And Yzak knew it. Neat trap.

When his head came back up, Kira knew his own gaze was as strong as Joule's. "You are absolutely sure you want to do this Commander?"

"Yes I am." Yzak replied, steady as a rock.

"Then, pending the Supreme Council's approval, I accept."

The vast room degenerated into an uproar. While people argued the pros and cons on the floor, Lacus went quietly to each Council member and asked for their vote. Kira could see from where he was standing that they felt as trapped by Yzak's move as he'd been. It was obvious, at least to him, which way the vote was going to go very early on.

When the vote was official, dead silence fell. Kira stepped forward, saluted Lacus, and stood firmly as she pinned that badge onto his uniform. But he surprised them all when he stepped back, turned, and formally saluted his new Commander as well. Yzak returned it, no trace of smile or triumph on his face at all. The buzz of talk that started up was not as hostile sounding as the first round had been. Maybe, just maybe, it said, Commander Joule had known what he was doing after all.

* * *

Tired but satisfied, Yzak slipped away from the party that followed Madam Chairman Clyne's address sometime after midnight. He'd stayed more than long enough to do the political schmoozing his new job required and now he had the headache such constant wariness and guarding of the tongue always gave him. It had gone well though.

He commandeered a ZAFT staff car and driver for a lift to the base. The officer they belonged to wasn't going to need them for the short time they would be off their post. Yzak knew exactly where the man was and who he was with. He'd be lucky to get out by dawn.

He settled in the back seat and smiled tightly. He had expected to be successful. He was Ezaria Joule's son after all, trained in the art of political maneuvering from birth. Of course he was going to sway the various members of the PLANT Councils. What he had not expected at all was to have Yamato stay with him all evening as a subordinate should, backing him all the way in his very quiet manner that never pushed anyone but that could have less give than a shot from his old Agni hyper-impulse cannon. Oh yes, Commander Joule had been very successful; and so had Deputy Commander Yamato. He was going to have to keep an eye on Kira. He was a _lot_ smarter politically than he'd thought he'd be.

At the same time, he knew Yamato was not happy with him for putting him on the spot in the first place. He'd come to the PLANTs and accepted, very reluctantly, a Commanders slot in the ZAFT to protect Lacus. That was his focus, his _only_ focus. While Kira Yamato wasn't an enemy of the people of the PLANTs he sure wasn't a friend of any PLANT government! And he had absolutely zero trust in any such government too. Yet when Lacus had agreed to accept the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council of the PLANTs, he'd elected to follow her to keep her safe. He had most definitely not intended to extend that to keeping the PLANTs themselves safe!

They were going to have to discuss this. And he was going to have to let Yamato have his full say on it no matter who was supposed to rank who. He was going to have to hold on to his temper too, no matter what came out of Yamato's mouth or this would fall apart very fast. There was too much negative history between them, they had to clear it.

Because he did want Strike-Freedom's pilot in FAITH. He did want him as his Deputy Commander. Kira Yamato had a range of experience inside enemy organizations that would be invaluable in defending the PLANTs through these days of weakness while they struggled to recover from their second war in almost as many years that had drained vast resources but returned no victory. He hadn't been lying when he'd praised the man's loyalty either. And that loyalty was given now to Lacus Clyne, Madam Chairman of the Supreme Council of the PLANTs. As long as they could stay out of conflict with Aube and his sister, Yamato would bend all his formidable talents to helping Lacus however he could. Those talents would see their widest possible use if he was a member of FAITH.

It could wait until tomorrow. Tonight he needed to see to one last thing before he could get some sleep. He had to make arrangements for the changeover in command of the Joule Team. He smiled wearily. Really, it was amazing what you could accomplish at a party if you knew what strings to pull. Still, if there hadn't been those promotions in the other Team and the people involved hadn't agreed it wouldn't have worked. But they had and he was going to be able to leave _his_ people in damn good hands.

There were lights on in his office when he arrived and dismissed the driver to go back to wait for his own commander. He smiled, he'd expected this. Both Dearka and Shiho were probably still here. They would know about his new appointment of course; it had only gone out over every vid-cast there was. But he did not know how they were going to take the rest of the news he was bringing.

"I don't know Dearka," Shiho's voice carried clearly in the empty corridor. "You still haven't convinced me. Why Yamato? And as Deputy Commander of all things! Even if you _could_ set aside the fact that he fought on the other side in _both_ wars, what does he know about ZAFT or the PLANTs?"

"You don't get it do you?" Dearka's voice was muffled enough to suggest he was in the inner office. "Yzak didn't pick him for what he knows about us. He picked him because Kira's hopelessly incorruptible. And everyone knows it. He's competent too. And that's no secret either. He's not afraid to admit it when he doesn't know something. Yeah, Cagalli made him the official Admiral of Aube's fleet there at the end but he wasn't stupid enough to think he could really do the job. He delegated the actual work to the surviving senior Aube commanders who had the experience to know what they were doing and he stuck to leading the mobile suit troops. That was the work _he_ understood better than they did."

"He was still an Earth Forces officer in the first war and an Aube officer in this one!" She argued. "Who but Yzak would think of making someone like that second in command of FAITH? And even if he is what you say he is, I still don't see why Yzak did it!"

"Because in its own way, it's politically smart." Elsman told her cheerfully. "He's buying tons of points with Earth governments that really, really don't trust us but that do trust Kira Yamato. Yzak just made Yamato very powerful in the PLANTs and the ZAFT. He could just sit and play pick-up sticks in his office and it would improve our relations with everyone but the North Atlantic Federation."

"It actually won't hurt there either." Yzak told them as he stepped through the office door. "They may hate him but they do respect him. And everyone knows he's loyal to Lacus."

"They know he's in love with her." Dearka grinned.

"Yes, that too." Joule agreed. "But what it means is there is no money that can buy him and it is unlikely they can find anything to threaten to bend him. And they know it too. No one wants Kira Yamato angry enough at them to come hunting. He's more dangerous than a tsunami during a typhoon while an earthquake is happening. He was bad enough the first war. He's gotten worse this last one. His abilities are outgrowing his mobile suit's capacities. We can all thank what ever gods we own that he's a genuine pacifist and devoted to another one!"

Dearka stepped thoughtfully out of the doorway to Yzak's private office to wander over and sit on the edge of Shiho's desk. "Yeah, he's grown a lot. I remember when we were part of the Le Creuset Team, chasing the _Archangel_ all over space and the Earth. Every time we got into a fight with them, he'd come out in Strike and somehow hold us off. And he was better at it each time we fought. We should've known he was no Natural by the time he managed to survive that atmospheric entry after we blasted Halliburton's Eighth Fleet. I mean doing that damn near killed the two of us! No Natural could have made it. None of the G-weapons was set up with enough cooling systems to bring a Natural through that. But no, we kept thinking he was just some stupidly lucky Natural kid. I'm amazed we survived all those fights."

"Nicol didn't." Yzak said quietly.

"I know. But I've reviewed the footage we had from that fight and you know, Nicol made the first mistake. He popped out from under the mirage colloid too close to the Strike. Yamato didn't have the time to do anything but react. And by then, we'd taught him we were out to kill him. If he'd given Kira another second or twenty feet, I honestly think that sword would have gone under the cockpit instead of through it."

Yzak glared, those memories were still tender and probably would be for the rest of his life. "Zala made the first mistake! He should have told us who Yamato was!"

"Oh, and we'd have been so very understanding back then." Dearka drawled. "If you're gonna trip down memory lane, don't do it with blinders on. Saying you didn't like Athrun is kinda like saying the sun's warm, an understatement so bland it hides reality. And we won't go into what you thought of the Strike's pilot either."

He opened his mouth to scream at Elsman but no sound came out. Memory and honesty throttled it. Temper battled with hard-won maturity – and lost. He closed his mouth and stared bleakly at the floor instead.

"Well, yes, I don't suppose either one could have missed how I felt then if they'd been blind, deaf, _and_ autistic."

"Not that Athrun or I happened to be any of those things, but, no, we didn't miss your opinion of us Joule."

Yzak snapped around. Kira Yamato was leaning, arms folded, against the side of hallway door. The expression on his face was neutral, completely neutral.

"Would it help any to know that of all the things that I've done in two wars, I regret that one most? That I still hear Athrun screaming his name in my nightmares?" Yamato looked away. "I never wanted to kill any of you, not really. I just wanted you to leave us alone. I didn't understand war then even though I was fighting one. I knew I was killing people and I hated it. But I never knew who they were, understood any of them as individuals, until I heard Athrun. Not even when I thought I'd killed Commander Waltfeld did I feel that bad. I'd never heard loss like that before. I've only heard it a few times since."

He looked up and Yzak was startled by the bleak emptiness in the amethyst eyes. "Shin asked me once why I was stupid enough to try to fight a war without killing my enemies. Nicol is why. I never want to be responsible for anyone else screaming like that again."

The empty eyes focused on him and Yzak only barely managed not to shudder. "I fight when I have no other choice. I kill when I have to. But I take no pride in it Joule. I do it because I can, and so no one else has to. And I will not be anyone's tool to 'get back' at someone. Do we understand each other?"

The Commander of FAITH studied his unwilling subordinate. This was a side of Yamato he'd never suspected was even there. He'd have laughed if anyone had told him the younger Coordinator carried the dead on his soul like an open wound; one the man had no intention of ever letting heal. He blinked slowly as he realized just how much Kira Yamato feared his own abilities. And what he could become if he ever let them go while rage ruled him. It changed what he'd intended to say drastically.

"I like to think I've grown up a bit since then. I also like to think that I act on reality." Yzak said slowly. "Yes, I still have a temper and yes, it can get away from me sometimes. But I don't let it make my decisions any longer. And I've come to realize that everyone in the PLANTs isn't always right, or even in the right."

He took a very deep breath and managed to force out words he'd never, ever, wanted to have to say out loud. "Naturals aren't always wrong either. Not even ones from the Alliance."

"Why did you force this on me?" Kira asked in the brittle silence that followed that strained confession.

"Because you're the best there is in a mobile suit." Yzak snarled. "Because you know how our enemies think. Because we're weak! Because we can't afford to get into another fight! I need a deterrent Yamato! One that can sit there and keep the Naturals off our backs without lifting a finger! And that's what you are!"

He glared into the still lavender eyes, unable to read them. "If there's another war, we'll die. Our resources are just too short now. We've lost too many people, especially those of combat age. We can field an army but we can't keep one going long. The Naturals can. We need peace, decades of it, to rebuild, to _survive_, damn it!"

"It isn't the Alliance you need to worry about." Kira said quietly. "They've been nearly as shattered as the PLANTs economically and politically. There isn't a single planet based nation that is going to start another war anytime soon."

"Unaffiliated radicals." Dearka said grimly. "Ours and theirs, right? The guys who just won't live with not winning."

Yamato nodded. "I've no idea how many little groups of them there are out there but I know there're a lot. Some have resources or supplies stashed. Others have backing, mostly private but there are a couple of governments that aren't watching a few of their agencies as well as they should be too."

"I'm sure the Alliance has that 'problem'." Shiho said derisively.

"Believe it or not, they don't seem to be the main offender here." Kira shook his head slowly. "It's Eurasia and the Union of South Africa that seem to have the money and the inclination to spend it unwisely. The real problems though may come from the space based quasi-pirate groups. They don't have much of an agenda beyond smashing everything that ever hurt them. And there is someone out there who seems to be starting to build a fleet out of them."

"Where are you getting this information?" Yzak asked flatly.

"My sister." He replied bluntly. "Aube wants peace. It's only going to last if the elements that want war can be stopped. Cagalli and Lacus are working together to stop them. So I have access to a lot of what Aube Intelligence is getting hold of. As one of the strongest forces left on the planet, Aube is in a position to do a lot to quell trouble down there. They need the ZAFT to be strong enough to deal with space threats because the Alliance isn't and won't be for a long time to come. And Cagalli seriously doesn't trust a lot of the senior officials of the Eurasian Federation. Ever since the Chinese came to dominate foreign policy last year, she's been getting very bad feelings about where they want to take the Federation."

"And the Union of South Africa?" Yzak asked.

"No one seems to be sure what they're up to. Diamond money is going someplace though and it isn't into rebuilding the country's infrastructure." Yamato turned a dark eye to Yzak. "I'll make you a bet that they aren't telling the PLANTs where it's going either. I would suggest finding someone qualified to look into it Commander, and putting them on it, fast."

"Is that what you see FAITH as doing?" Dearka wondered.

"I see FAITH as defending the PLANTs. At the moment, one of the ways they need defending is in the area of serious intelligence gathering on groups and nations that might want to rekindle the fighting. I don't think we, FAITH, should be doing the actual work no, but I do think we should have someone looking over shoulders and kicking asses if they need it. Joule's right you know. The ZAFT is seriously weakened now. The trick for the next few years is going to be killing the snakes before they can bite. If it gets to outright war, well, the PLANTs will have a big problem on their hands."

"Do you have any more questions about why I wanted you for FAITH Yamato?" Yzak asked quietly. "You've just come up with data I didn't have and a solid suggestion of what to do about it that I wouldn't have thought of. I'm a trained soldier and politician. Using a FAITH member as a nanny for our intelligence agencies would have struck me as a total waste of limited personnel. Deliberately selecting someone to have the qualifications for it is not how I envisioned using our people. I don't think that way. I've no idea what the hell you're trained to be but it sure seems to have wider horizons than I do. And I don't need to 'get back' at anyone right now. I'll let you know if I do and you can decide for yourself if you want to help then. Is that good enough for you?"

"Computer engineering." Kira said absently.

"What?" Yzak glared at him.

"That's what I was in tech school for on Heliopolis, computer engineering. You kinda wrecked my career track when you came for the Gundams that day. Everything else was just picked up along the way." Yamato smiled slightly. "I'm pretty good at taking care of kids and changing diapers too if that's ever needed by the ZAFT. But I'm not much of a cook."

"Don't worry, neither is he." Shiho said calmly. "His stroganoff is good and his butterscotch pie is worth stealing but everything else should be taste-tested first. Sometimes things are great, others, not so great."

"Don't let him heat rations for you either." Dearka added.

"If you two would be good enough to shut up here, I'd like to get back to the point." Yzak snarled.

"Oh, I think he's gotten the point he came for." Shiho tuned steady eyes on Yamato. "Haven't you, Commander?"

"Depends. What do you think I was looking for Lieutenant?"

"You needed to be sure Commander Joule wasn't intending to use you as a conduit for influence on Miss Clyne of course. You had to be sure he wasn't going to be acting to undermine her programs." She replied evenly.

"You're sharp." Kira told her with a wry grin, then turned keen eyes on the flabbergasted Yzak. "Well, well, your girlfriend got it before you did. You need to do better or she's going to run the house, Commander."

"Lieutenant Hahnenfuss is _not_ my girlfriend!" Yzak yelled. "She's my aide and secretary and an exceptionally efficient soldier and that's all!"

"Really? I must have misunderstood what Lacus meant. My apologies." Kira said politely.

Unfortunately for Yzak's temper, the amused twinkle in Yamato's eye was unmistakable. Damn it! Why did everyone keep insisting Hahnenfuss was his girlfriend? He didn't _have_ a girlfriend! He didn't _want_ a girlfriend! And he damn well didn't _need_ one! No matter what his mother, and apparently Madam Chairman Clyne, thought about it!

Dearka stepped in before he could take his opinion on the subject of girlfriends and people who wanted to foist them off on him any further. "Yzak, with you taking command at FAITH, who's going to take over the Joule Team?"

Shiho stared at him. "What! Someone else take over our Team? Why?"

"Because I can't do two full time jobs at the same time." Yzak said calmly. "Rebuilding FAITH is going to be a huge task. At the moment, there are only two members, me and that idiot in the doorway. We have to set up the entire organization from scratch. Make it accountable to the Council as a whole and effective at the same time. And we have to find the people to be the new membership. People who can handle emergencies ranging from food riots to nuclear attacks. Lacus called the job thankless and she knew what she was talking about."

"Not to mention how many parties that will have to be attended and self-important people we'll have to make feel good about the whole business." Yamato put in unhappily.

Yzak looked at him with interest. "They taught some interesting classes in computer engineering on Heliopolis."

"Nah, learned that hanging around the Chief Representative of Aube." Kira sighed. "I'm sort of considered a cadet member of the Athha family. Cagalli used to use me sometimes as a stand-in for her when she couldn't be at two parties at the same time. I don't envy Athrun getting stuck with that now. I just thank god no one's pinned a House title on me!"

"Do you have any more questions regarding why I want you as my Second?" Yzak asked bluntly.

"Not really." Yamato told him evenly. "Now we'll have to see how it works out."

"Right."

"The Team?" Dearka asked.

"Will stay the Joule Team." Yzak smiled. "There have been several promotions in the Thoms Team and I've taken advantage of one of them. My cousin Voril will be assuming command of my Team."

"Commander Thoms agreed to that?" Dearka asked, shocked. "More to the point, did Captain Ito agree?"

"Commander Thoms has been promoted himself. He is going to be a Mobile Suit Team Coordinator with ten separate Teams under his command. And it will be the Ito Team now. Voril distinguished himself in the last battle over the Moon and has been jumped from Ito's wing to Commander. I requested him for my Team and they all agreed."

"Did you have to promise not to hover over his shoulder?" Shiho asked, one eyebrow raised.

He gave her a filthy look and didn't dignify the question with an answer. "I did request permission to take a couple people with me to facilitate setting up my new office. I don't want to have to train staff and build the whole of FAITH at the same time. Voril was perfectly agreeable."

Elsman just eyed him expectantly. "Yes Dearka, I'm taking you and Hahnenfuss."

"It's going to be quite a change in leadership style for the Team." Shiho said thoughtfully. "Voril is a great deal more laid back than you are."

"Yes, although I expect he'll find being in charge will force him to change some of that. However he's very well trained. Lance Thoms is a superb teacher. He's also picked up a lot of experience in this war." Yzak said thoughtfully. "Besides, there aren't any other junior officers in the whole of the ZAFT who've been to Earth as often as he has or who've had the chance to meet as many senior Earth Alliance officers as he has. Being Ito's Wing had some unusual advantages."

"Isn't Captain, sorry, Commander Ito married to an Earth Natural?" Shiho frowned.

"Yes," Kira replied before Yzak could. "Kayla Grayhawk Ito is also known as Tomahawk. She was a Zero pilot in the first war. They met at the disaster at Spit Break in Alaska. He shot her down and took her prisoner. Things went from there. At any rate, her oldest sister is General Maria Grayhawk, the Bronze Spider. Family visits between the wars, and the Grayhawks always invited Voril to come too, usually meant there was someone from the Alliance on hand. The Spider really wanted her people to get past all the stupid Blue Cosmos propaganda and recognize that Coordinators are human too."

He stared thoughtfully into some middle distance at something only he saw. "I think she knew there would be a second war. I think she didn't expect it to be very long between them either. She didn't want us to be so badly underestimated a second time."

"Us?" Yzak asked, surprised at his choice of words.

"Yes, us, Coordinators." Yamato replied. "I am one you know."

"I did figure that out." Yzak said coolly. "I admit it took a while to get the idea past my prejudices but I did eventually let myself know a Coordinator could choose to work with Naturals without being forced into it. It took me a lot longer to understand why and even longer to accept it."

"I kinda figured that out too." Kira told him just as coolly. "The insistence on trying to blow my head off was a pretty good clue."

"I'm not going to apologize for it."

"I'm not going to ask you to. I'm not that stupid. And I really don't care about your attitude from two years plus ago. I only care about how you feel now."

Yzak blinked, then settled back against the edge of Shiho's desk beside Dearka. "How I feel now? Well, I still have some reservations but none of them are serious or I wouldn't have demanded you for my Second. I don't really like you and I doubt I ever will. I have come to respect you though. You're honest, loyal, damn sharp, more than pull your own weight, and don't pretend to know everything. I'm not nearly so happy with your insistence on not killing any enemy, even if I now know where it came from. And I don't want you teaching _that_ to the rest of FAITH as we get it set up."

"You can't teach it Joule. It's either something you believe in or it isn't." Yamato replied quietly. "And I'm not sure I like you either by the way. But I can admit you've become an able leader, gotten that rotten temper of yours under control, stand firmly for your convictions and never hide what you stand for. You're honest too. And you'd give your people your life in a heartbeat. I respect you and I can work with you. Just don't try to tell me what to believe in."

Yzak stood and walked over to the other young man he'd drafted as his Second. Keen blue eyes met surprisingly strong amethyst ones. He held out his hand to a man he'd once sworn to kill.

"I won't tell you what to believe in Yamato but I will _demand_ that you believe you can make a difference to Lacus Clyne's programs by serving as the Deputy Commander of FAITH. Because you won't be worth shit to me if you don't."

Kira took his hand if a firm grip that did not challenge him for dominance. "If I hadn't understood that much, I'd have refused right there on the podium."

It was going to work! Gods and devils, it was going to work! Kira Yamato was going to accept him as his commanding officer. This Natural-loving idiot Coordinator, the finest mobile suit pilot alive, had _finally_ committed to his own kind!


	5. Chapter 5

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Forward, on many fronts.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

"This is stupid and you know it." G snapped.

"We've done stupid things before." J replied evenly. "We don't have a choice here. We have to have the tech. The Gundams are vulnerable over there without it."

"Easy for you to say!"

"Yes, but we both know why it has to be you."

"……."

J shrugged. It wasn't like they had a choice. The translation program he'd had running ever since he'd found the alternate dimension had shown them a huge, potentially fatal flaw in their mobile suits. The odds against success without the tech were over eighty percent, totally unacceptable. They either fixed it or risked losing everything. Unfortunately, the only fix they could get fast enough to matter required them to steal existing equipment from the other side. He just couldn't move fast enough. That left G stuck being the thief.

"If we wait a few days we can have the boys do this themselves." G grumbled.

"Do you really think we're going to have any time once they get here?"

G glared at him, then settled back in resignation. "No, no I don't. If those cryptic intercepts are to be trusted at all, we'll be lucky to have time to get them over there and ourselves out of here."

"We may well have to start cutting steps out of their trip as it is." J said quietly. "The risk that we might miss a tail is getting smaller than the risk that they might be identified and intercepted."

"Our enemy is getting too close to identifying Chang." G said bluntly. "Once they do, all bets are off. Wu Fei has kept mementos that will give them the names and faces of the others immediately."

J shrugged. "What happens will happen. We can't control everything. But after we get this job done, we need to establish a safe and fast way to communicate with Une. We can't keep waiting for her to notice she has mail."

G snorted but didn't refute it. "Haven't you got it set yet? I want to do this now!"

"A few more moments here. You do want it done right don't you?"

"Of course!" G snapped. "Just make sure I won't have to deal with any guards. I'm not Shinigami you know."

J ignored that last remark as his console suddenly beeped softly at him. "Ha, I have energy match! Inserting the probe now."

His hands flew across the boards inputting the codes to allow the probe to be slipped across the barrier and adjusting power and sensitivity settings as it began to pick up data from the other side. The small unit slid gracefully through the 'gate' in the barrier to tumble a few inches to the warehouse floor. He smiled, the padding he'd encased it in made the fall almost soundless.

The next item across was the recovery unit. J adjusted the altitude of the 'gate' before he allowed it to be pushed across. No amount of padding would make that quiet if it fell. Once it was over however, he pulled ever so slightly on the locator, moving the 'gate' back from the spot where the unit now rested. He stopped when he had enough space for G to work in and once more made sure the 'gate' was as close as possible to the warehouse floor.

J double checked the readouts; this was not a time for careless errors. "Probe indicates no intruders or active security in the area."

"Now we hope its right."

J grimaced. They had no other option but to bet their search tech against the security tech of the other side. Unfortunately, he'd never run any tests on this before and he had no way to be sure they could read – let alone counter – the alien tech. But then, that was the reason for doing this by the dead of local 'night' and raiding the very back of the warehouse in the first place. He watched G take his equipment through the 'gate'. Now all he could do was observe, hand hovering over the return controls, as his fellow conspirator went to work.

It was a nerve-wracking twenty three minutes. Still, G managed to load and secure both pallets faster than they'd initially planned. Some fortunate stacking on the part of the warehouse staff made things much simpler than they'd anticipated. Not one to look such gifts in the mouth, his partner had moved as quickly as he could and was suddenly signaling him to open the path home.

J tripped the return and the power flows reversed. G activated the lifter and cautiously shoved the first pallet across the 'gate'. The lifter was the most powerful they had been able to get in that size but it was not all that strong. So there was little to be done to speed things up when J realized they had company just as G reached the 'gate' with the second pallet.

Well, that answered one question! His detection probe was NOT good enough to spot the other's security devices, at least not until they rolled around the corner into plain view and the probe's alarm went off. He saw G look over his shoulder and throw his full weight against the lifter, trying to get as much speed out of it as he could.

The unit that had swung around the left corner of the main corridor into their small aisle had a very large optical sensor mounted on the front but no visible weapons. J gave thanks for small favors. At least it didn't look like G was going to be stopped! But he knew with the 'gate' open that whoever was monitoring what that thing saw was looking straight into the mobile suit hanger. They couldn't miss Heavyarms or Deathscythe Hell. They might even be able to see Wing Zero. And these people had mobile suits of their own. They'd know immediately why someone was stealing this tech. Which would tell them too much about the suits they saw. Damn! Damn! Damn!

Then G and the invaluable pallet were through the 'gate'. A signal to the recovery set sent it into instant meltdown. The 'gate' collapsed in a kaleidoscope of colors. He banged his good fist on his console once, then drew in a deep breath. When he let it out, he was fully under control.

"That wasn't good." G said quietly, having come up beside him while he was getting his temper back in hand.

"We have the n-jammer cancellers for each suit and a spare in case one is defective. That's all we can allow to matter now. They aren't going to get anything but a heat-warped box."

G gave him a steady look out from under his heavy hair. "And a nice, about forty second shot of the hanger and everything in it. In living color probably. The boys will have to stay out of sight and we'll have to show them our own security footage so they understand why. We aren't going to be able to just issue orders like we used to."

J simply nodded. "Agreed. But they're all bright, we will be able to convince them with the evidence we have on hand. They aren't going to want to get into any trouble with the locals either."

The Professor gave the pallets and their precious crates a jaundiced stare. "I hope the risk turns out to be worth it. I'm beginning to wish we'd found something besides nuclear reactors to power our Gundams right now."

"I can understand that thought." J replied drily. "But we can't change them now. And we took that risk to make sure if they did run into trouble over there that they wouldn't suddenly shut down on the boys in the middle of a battle. It's all a balancing act."

"Yes, I know."

J closed down the boards and turned off the power to the bell. All that was left was the spy tap he'd had up and running for months now. He set it to record whatever went on in that warehouse aisle for a while before it would shift back to tracking news reports. It was time for lunch. This would all look less formidable on a full stomach. He paused to eye the cluster of soldiers that now surrounded the nearly slagged wreckage of the recovery unit. At least that puzzle should keep them occupied over there for a while.

Both of them missed something. In the need to get G and the units home quickly, something had been over looked. They'd forgotten the probe had been left behind as well.

* * *

Field Lieutenant Juan Ramirez of Crimson Dawn shifted uneasily as he waited. The Sun had granted him an emergency audience based on the data he'd found when he'd broken into Chang's desk. He knew it would please the Sun. He also knew the man was going to be very, very irritated to learn he'd been sharing an office with one of the much sought Gundam pilots for three months and hadn't spotted the man for what he was.

"Cutlass, the Sun grants you audience." The guard at the door wore the usual helm that concealed his face and robes with over-wide shoulders that hid his actual body shape.

Juan saluted the guard, who properly returned it, then opened the door for him. He stepped forward into the Sun's small, personal office. It was an austere room with no personal decorations at all. The handsome paneling and understated wallpaper were a complement to the fine antique walnut desk. The Sun himself wore the Solar mask and heavy gold brocade robes but not the formal set for public appearances. The lieutenant was surprised. This suggested favor. He stopped the correct four paces from the desk, snapped to attention and saluted his commander.

"Lieutenant," the Sun's voice was deep, warm, and clearly artificial. "You've done well. We are quite pleased. To have all five names and faces in one discovery is greater than expected."

Ramirez was startled. The anger he'd been dreading wasn't here. He did not let the moment of approval trick him into any lapse of respect though and remained at rigid attention and silent.

The Sun picked up a small pile of papers and sorted through them before he continued. "Gundam 01; known now as Heero Yuy. Handsome young man for one so dangerous, but then, they all are. Whereabouts unknown for the last two and a half years. He will be the most difficult one to settle."

"Gundam 02; Duo Maxwell. We have already dispatched a disposal team to his salvage yard. I am expecting a report from them this evening." The Sun tapped the next picture. "Gundam 03; Trowa Barton. There will be a team at the performance of his circus tonight. He will no longer be an issue."

The golden mask tipped as the Sun studied the next pilot's picture. "Gundam 04; Quatre Rebarba Winner. He was completely unexpected. To think a young man of his social status would have fallen so low as to pilot one of those murderous machines."

The Sun looked up at his Lieutenant. "We have sent three full teams to be sure we penetrate his security on the first attempt. The Winner residential defenses are not to be taken lightly. He is the one we may not succeed with tonight."

He laid out the last photo. "Gundam 05; Chang Wu Fei. This was a significant find Captain. This young man is not only one of the Gundam pilots; he is also heir to the off-colony assets of the Long Clan. One wonders what those old fools were thinking by making their Clan Heir into one of those monsters! However, once he is gone the next in line is one of our own. Eliminating this pilot will expand our financial resources appreciably. Unfortunately, he has dropped from sight for the moment. But one as distinctive as Chang will not be hard for our people to find. We should have him in a week or so."

The Sun leaned back. "You have done well, very well. It is unfortunate that Chang was skilled enough to slip under your review but that is not unusual in these vicious young beasts. He was not noticed by any others we had searching the Preventer ranks either."

"Your Excellency is most generous." Juan replied with a formal bow, never letting himself break from the most ceremonial of standards even here in this private interview.

"Pragmatic." The Sun replied bluntly. "We have been hunting these animals for almost two years. If they were easy to find, it would have happened long ago. It became clear to us some time ago that we would only find them with hard work or an act of serendipity. We are very please that you have given us our breakthrough. Your accomplishment is noted in your file."

"I am deeply grateful Excellency!" A note in his file from the Sun himself! Ramirez held himself still only by an exercise of steely will. Those were the bricks in the road to rapid promotion!

"You have earned this."

It was the end of the interview. He was dismissed with a polite nod, one much deeper than a simple field Lieutenant deserved. Ramirez left the well hidden headquarters building happily, sliding the uniform of Captain Ramirez of the Preventers back on as he went. His job there wasn't done yet.

* * *

General Une sat back in her chair, waiting for Colonel Po to finish absorbing the data. Sally had been her first choice of those who were going to have to be in the know. Not only has she been Wu Fei's first partner in the Preventers, she'd been a guerilla leader during the Eve Wars herself. If she had any single individual suited to clandestinely siphoning off and hiding both supplies and personnel for a covert war, Po was it.

"Well," Sally looked up, clearly both shocked and angered, "that was quite a revelation. Too bad there is so little hard data here. It's going to be difficult to know what to plan for."

"Agreed. But we have what we have and we will have to do our best with it." Une replied grimly.

"Do you have anyone digging into this?" Sally asked, focusing on the needs of the moment.

Une shook her head regretfully. "No. I don't know who is and who isn't compromised. And now we've lost all hope of help from Yuy too. I wish I knew how to reach that treacherous old goat J. I'd offer him amnesty for the Eve Wars if it would give us a continued data flow now."

"Uhm." Po muttered thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the desk. "Don't make him any offers when he does get hold of you. Just promise him you won't let it get out that he and G are still alive. Hold the other in reserve just in case we really do need to genuinely bribe him."

"You sound like you expect him to contact us."

The one time resistance leader grinned rather viciously at her. "Oh, I do. He's going to a lot of effort to round up the boys and get them out of sight. If they can't fight, we're the only ones he has to turn to until he's ready to turn the Gundams loose again. And that won't be possible until there is an open enemy to fight with and public opinion is at least starting to swing away from these Crimson Dawn people. No, J will be getting hold of us all right. He needs us too badly not to call in."

"You make a good point." The General replied thoughtfully. "I'll take that under advisement. Putting it aside for the moment though, I'd like your thoughts, just what flies off the top of your head here, regarding who to slip away and where we should slip supplies off to."

"Oh, that's easy. Start with Wu Fei's team." Sally said decisively. "Chen Ly is a very able officer in his own right and he's been trained by Chang. He isn't a Gundam pilot but he's learned to think a lot like one. Since we're going to have to trust at least some people with this, let's start with the ones least likely to be contaminated."

"That's a good first idea." Une agreed. "Got any more?"

Sally had several. They included supply depots and hiding places Oz had never found in the Eve Wars. Nor did she get too specific on locations even now. That was fine with Une. She wasn't going to be able to disappear until there was a full out revolution. This would leave her vulnerable to either an assassin or a surprise capture. There were things it would be just as well that she not know under those circumstances.

She tapped a long finger on her desk. "That should be a good start on securing supplies. Now, what about personnel? We'll need far more than Chang's team."

Sally hesitated, then spoke slowly. "About that, we can sort out troops using truth drugs to weed out Crimson Dawn's moles if we have to. It's finding enough officers that's going to be the real issue. One of our biggest problems is too many of our people think like cops. Nothing wrong with cops but if we get a revolution, we're going to need soldiers. Not the same thing as cops."

Une grimaced. She couldn't refute that. One of the problems with the rigid limits the politicians had been steadily hemming the Preventers in with was the dwindling useful personnel pool it created. The criteria for consideration were quite high to begin with. Every restriction reduced the number of qualified people who were willing to consider applying for the job. And the military mindset was one the current government was openly hostile to and regulated against. It wasn't all that friendly to the police mindset either for that matter!

Po bit her lip and added very quietly, "I don't know if you'll like this but I'd like to put Wind and Fire into the loop."

General Une could only stare at her. "Preventers Wind and Fire? But they're on Mars!"

Sally looked up at the ceiling and just shook her head. "They're not, they're here. I saw them both day before yesterday. They were very well disguised but, yes, it was them. They're both still officially in the Reserves, it isn't like I was suggesting outsiders."

Wind and Fire were on Earth? What had brought that pair back here? Wind especially had very significant reasons never to return. Something was very wrong.

"Why are they here?"

"Because Crimson Dawn seems to have a very long reach." Sally replied, eyes grim. "Someone has tried for Wind three times, Fire twice. There have been at least two incidents at the small Preventer base that Wind firmly believes were sabotage intended to destroy it. The base commander reported them as accidents. Oh, both of them have picked up the name Crimson Dawn by the way. They mentioned it to me as a possible new terrorist group."

"I see." Une considered the suggestion carefully. Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin were a formidable team. But Zechs in his other incarnation of Milliardo Peacecraft came with several shiploads of political baggage as well. Still, this would be very much under cover work. It wasn't as though she was going to have to employ him openly.

She nodded firmly. "Find out if they'll be willing to be formally reinstated. They'll need to be official, if covert, to do a lot of the requisitioning that'll be needed or to have their orders accepted without lengthy delays."

"I'll ask them." Sally promised. "I have another meeting set up in the morning."

"That will do just fine." She turned to the next topic. "I believe Wu Fei sent you at least one of those messages, Yuy's at a guess considering how quickly you scanned it here. Consider yourself as having official permission to share it with both Wind and Fire. If we are bringing them in, I want them informed. Wind especially goes off on his own tangents when deprived of necessary data."

Po looked like she wanted to argue that but wisely didn't. They both knew Zechs too well to try to pretend he didn't make up his plans on the fly when he had to. At least he seemed to be fully recovered from his exposure to the Zero System now. The tangents he was likely to find to explore these days were going to be considerably less drastic than those of the last days of the Eve Wars. Yuy's too come to think of it. Une found herself hoping those two idiot scientists weren't foolish enough to restore the Zero System when they rebuilt the Wing Gundam.

The unexpected buzz of the secure line from the Residence in Sanq startled them both. Une's hand shot out, snatching up the receiver and holding it tight to her ear. This would not be good. It never was when this phone rang without warning.

"Une here." The General snapped.

She could feel her eyes widening as a familiar but long unheard voice snarled in her ear. "I think you should know that Fire and I just thwarted an assassination attempt on Dorothy inside the Residence itself. You have five dead, four wounded and no surviving prisoners. The two we did capture managed to suicide. Fire and three of yours are with my sister, Dorothy, and Pagan in the panic room. None of them are hurt. Now, get me some reinforcements!"

"Colonel Po and a full response team will be on their way to your location in five minutes." Une reached for the alert as she spoke. "Is the site otherwise secure?"

"I believe so."

"Expect aid in ten minutes."

"I'll be counting."

She dropped the phone back on its cradle and turned to Sally, who was already on her feet. "That was Zechs. Someone just tried to murder Dorothy Catalonia. They got inside the Residence. We have casualties but no prisoners. Neither Dorothy nor Relena is hurt. Take the response team and find out what the hell is going on!"

Sally only looked at her calmly. "One guess."

"I don't want guesses Po. I want facts."

"We won't have any more facts than we already have. No prisoners, remember?" Sally shook her head angrily. "You better start planning a way to get Mariemaia to safety too."

General Une stared wrathfully at Colonel Po's back as the woman ran from the office. How dare she be so practical? How dare she bring up Mariemaia?

No, she realized, it was really how dare she not? If the Catalonia girl was a target, how much more would the child be one? She'd already been used once in an attempt to seize control of the world after all.

Anne Une's eyes closed as despair washed briefly over her. Where was she going to hide the girl? She couldn't send her with the Gundam pilots. Yuy, for one, was far too likely to solve the problem she represented by breaking her neck, promise to Relena or no. She hadn't missed the very pure hatred in that last look she'd seen him give her nearly three years ago, just before he'd disappeared. She couldn't chance that his opinion hadn't changed. The general settled in for a long night of data acquisition and survival planning; plans that had just become a great deal more urgent.

* * *

Lacus stared at the screen. A rather unattractive elderly man with a very long nose and bushy gray hair that made him resemble an oversized mushroom was looking over his shoulder and pushing a pallet loaded with stolen n-jammer cancellers through what could only be described as a hole in reality. She could see another such pallet just beyond the edges of the hole.

She could also see three unmistakable mobile suits in what was equally unmistakably a maintenance hanger where those pallets were ending up. One was largely a muted forest green with lighter yellowish green stripes on the panels and what looked in the light to be pale gray limbs, one mostly a very dark gray with only slightly lighter gray legs and some kind of black armor shroud over it that resembled nothing so much as bat wings, each with a long red spike at the top of the main 'joint', and the last, a blue, white and red machine, looked for all the world like it had feathered wings, although she could only see about half of it. While neither the green and pale gray or black and gray units had readily visible weapons, there was a double barreled rifle of some kind racked beside the winged unit. The size of the weapon suggested serious power.

"Gundams," Kira's voice whispered in shock. "Those are Gundams!"

"We don't know that Kira." Lacus told him quietly. "But I do admit they look like they could be."

"What's a Gundam?" Yzak snapped, eyes glued to the images now slowly being played over and over in the forty-three second film loop.

"Well, originally, it was the Strike." Kira replied. "I named it after the first letters of the title of the operating system. It sounded better than just calling it a G-weapon all the time. Now I kind of use it to describe any of the unique, new generation machines that won't be going into mass production but are assigned to individual pilots. Like Strike-Freedom or Impulse or Destiny, units of that caliber. They tend to have somewhat similar lines really, and the style of the heads for some reason seems to have what can be called a 'family resemblance' too. I mean, look at them Joule, don't they remind you of the Duel and the Buster?"

"That green and light gray one does." He admitted slowly. "The two-tone gray one with the strange armor shroud is another story and those white wings are nothing like any I've ever seen on a mobile suit before."

"No," Kira agreed, "but look past the armor and ignore the wings and what do you see?"

Yzak opened his mouth, then shut it gradually. He stared at the units, eyes taking in every detail he could. Finally he nodded.

"Yes, they do. But there's something different about them too. I can't put my finger on it but they're, well, almost alien."

"That goes well with holes in the air people are walking through." Kira noted. "Lacus, has anyone who's seen this come up with an explanation for just what it is we're looking at? Besides a pretty brazen theft that is."

"Not yet." She replied wearily. "And the preliminary report on the unit projecting the field that created the 'hole' says it's pretty much a melted pile of scrap. They haven't found a single identifiable item in it, not even a wire. However, they do say some of the materials are absolutely unique. The box itself appears to be made out of something incredibly durable as it didn't melt in the heat. It just deformed a bit."

Yzak gave a small snort and she turned to him. He gave her a very dark look and a shrug. She arched an eyebrow at him. He scowled, lips in a thin line, then gave a small, decisive nod.

"I probably shouldn't say this out loud since I know there are recording devices in the room but what the hell. Lacus, impossible as it sounds, this looks like what they've always theorized either some kind of a tesserect or a passage into another space-time would."

Kira turned nervous eyes on him. "You're correct; you shouldn't say things like that out loud. Even if you are right."

She sighed. "Well, that makes three of us who can see the possibility then."

"Oh, there're more than the three of you who see it." Andrew Waltfeld told her. "When the security team brought this to me, I took it to the Science Institute. It just looked too impossible to believe. They tore it apart making sure it wasn't some kind of amazingly elaborate hoax. Then I hear there was a lot of yelling and screaming about how unattainable it was once they decided it was real."

He rolled his good eye. "Unattainable; good word. Problem is, someone's gone and attained it. And it doesn't look like it was anyone from our neighborhood. That's really the verdict I got from Dean Koudelka. The limited evidence on hand strongly suggests a breach in a space-time barrier and it was done by the people on the other side. So, Yzak, you're in good company with your guess."

"Does the Dean have any idea how they did it?" Lacus asked, bright curiosity getting the better of her.

"Not that she was willing to share with me, no." Waltfeld admitted.

"How about any idea why they did it?" Yzak asked grimly as he stared at the stranger's mobile suits.

"Nothing that makes any sense from the Science Institute." Andy said dryly. "The security team had a few thoughts that seem more reasonable but then, we really don't have the smallest idea how those people think now do we?"

"Sure we do." Kira said quietly. "They are a lot like us. If they weren't they wouldn't have mobile suits and they wouldn't be stealing n-jammer cancellers. We've only seen the one sample, and honest, I hope he isn't typical of what they look like, but you have to admit he looks pretty human from what we can see. And since they have gone to the trouble to develop mobile suits and weapons like that rifle for them, they have wars too. Which means they live in social groups and they don't always get along. We can look into that hanger and a lot of what we see makes sense to us. The tools, the suits, the physical structure of the place, even the chair in the corner! It looks spooky normal, doesn't it?"

"Yes." Yzak agreed shortly. "But at the same time everything is just somehow 'off'. The designs are similar but the finishing touches are just not anything like the way any culture I know of would do it. Look at the suits themselves! They really resemble ours but when you study them closely there are small items all over them that we'd never use, methods of solving the mechanical problems of simply making something the size and complexity of a mobile suit that show they came up with slightly different engineering answers than we did. That green and gray suit has surfaces on the shoulders and chest that look like they open, I think they're weapons bays. If there's a hand carried weapon similar to the one for the winged suit, that thing will put out a devastating amount of firepower until it runs out of ammunition. I can't even begin to guess what that overlay shroud on the two-tone one does but it sits out from the body of the suit so it obviously opens up to allow the suit to fight. Whatever weapons it has must be hidden behind it. And I can't imagine why one would want feathered wings on a mobile suit at all, let alone see a use for them. But there has to be one. No one would put something like that on a war machine of that caliber if it wasn't useful, very useful."

"But why would someone from another dimension want to steal an n-jammer canceller in the first place?" Lacus wondered. "Have they invented a kind of n-jammer on their own?"

Kira stared at the repeating film loop. There was something here if he could just get it to come into focus and it wasn't anything to do with the quality of the images. It was something he should be seeing. The whole thing was trying to tell him something, something important. And he was sitting here acting like a blind man! Sometimes he really could knock his skull on the table.

"Maybe they have." Waltfeld said quietly. "But there is another possibility and I really don't like it."

"You think they could get their 'hole' open wide enough to let those mobile suits cross?" Yzak asked, staring hard at the bat winged unit.

"It's the only reason I can think of that they would need n-jammer cancellers." Andy agreed unhappily.

"And that says they're nuclear powered. For that's the only power source for a mobile suit that would need a canceller to protect it." Lacus said thoughtfully. "Which means it is very likely they are exceptionally powerful suits. And that is a second reason to consider them probable Gundams."

"Damn it!" Yzak snarled. "We don't need some kind of future fiction nightmare right now!"

"I don't think anyone plans to ask us about it." Kira replied absently, trying to make his mind cough up whatever it was that was running around in there and giving him such fits.

"Probably not." Waltfeld agreed. "But I could wish we could see more. There isn't a lot to go on here. Those suits are just standing in the racks and there's not much else to see. Whoever they are, they keep an unfortunately neat maintenance shop. There's a real shortage of clues available."

Kira's attention fastened on the older man's words. A neat shop. He stared hard at what he could see and had to agree. It was a very neat shop in fact. In some ways, it reminded him of the hanger deck of the _Archangel_ in those first desperate weeks after the attack on Heliopolis. His head snapped up and his eyes went wide.

"The hanger of the _Archangel_! That's what it looks like!"

"Kira?" Lacus asked, surprise in her eyes.

He turned to the group. "We may have this all wrong. Take another look. Think of every mobile suit repair facility you've ever seen, then scan this one again. What's wrong here?"

"You mean besides being too neat?" Yzak asked irritably.

"What does that too neat tell you Yzak?"

"Ah! Yes," Andy's eye narrowed and he was leaning forward in intent study. "I think I see what you mean. It isn't what is there, it's what isn't."

"What is missing?" Lacus asked, not seeing anything obvious to her.

"Just about everything." Yzak replied slowly as he let his own eyes study the stranger's space inch by inch. "There are too few tools and materials out. I only see that one lifter the man has his hands on. The walls look to be almost bare behind those suits. The support lines and power cables are just about all I can see. There aren't any tool carts or stored parts on hand for the suits."

"Kira, what connection does this have to the _Archangel_?" Lacus was beginning to grasp that this was not normal but that was as far as she had managed to get, mobile suit maintenance was not something she was really familiar with in detail.

"When we had to leave Heliopolis, when it fell apart around us, the _Archangel_ was badly undersupplied in just about all areas. She was built to carry the Strike and the others but none of the materials for upkeep had been loaded yet and we didn't manage to get our hands on a whole lot before the colony was destroyed. So our hanger deck looked a lot like this one, very neat, very clean, and very empty of basic supplies."

He shook his head slowly. "I wonder if we've got some kind of rebel faction here. One with a real genius in the ranks who's managed to find them a whole new kind of secret edge."

"It would make sense." Andy agreed. "And it is one possible answer. I just wouldn't adopt it as my only possible choice yet. We don't know enough for that. But it would explain what we're seeing."

Lacus sat back. "Then we need to have this studied as well as we can manage. It is a very small bit of data. We must be quite careful what kind of assumptions we let ourselves make from it."

She eyed the mobile suits one last time. "However, I do feel it safe to say that whoever those people are, they are unhappily familiar with war. We need to see if we can determine any way of detecting them in the future. We have our own problems, we do not need theirs too."

But they would have them, Kira realized. That was what the hole was all about. Someone needed a place to run where no one could find them. And they'd decided to come here, to the time and place where he had so much to protect. He had no idea why he was so certain about this but he was. He stared at the three mobile suits he could see, suddenly sure they weren't the only ones in that hanger. The thief had taken six canceller units after all.

He could feel his mouth tightening and hoped no one else was watching him at the moment. He didn't want to discuss this with anyone. There wasn't anything to say yet and he really didn't want to have to deal with the looks he knew he'd get if he tried to tell them it was going to happen because he just 'knew it'. Oh, yeah, that'd go over real well coming from the new Deputy Commander of FAITH!

So he set himself to studying all the details he could pick out through the 'hole'. It was time to both look and be busy analyzing the situation. With a small shake of his head, Kira decided he was going to have to go over there and have a look around the warehouse for himself before he let any thought imbed itself too firmly in his mind. He knew he was missing something, something he was sure he could bring into focus if he could only stand where this impossibility had happened. Maybe then he'd be able to analyze his way to a believable explanation of _why_ he was so sure he was going to get to see those mobile suits up close and personally some day.

* * *

"Commander Hannam?" The voice was nervous, which didn't surprise the man being addressed.

"Yes Sergeant?" He replied quietly, not needing his subordinate in any greater panic than he already was. "I take it the data 'Longbranch' sent us is not up to standards?"

Albert Hannam already knew it wasn't. He'd hacked his own people's systems to see it raw. Thanks to that ass Djbril, his survivors tried to keep all raw data away from their commander until they could massage it into a form that wouldn't bring them blame. The stupid bastard had suffered from an idiot's tendency to blame the messenger whenever someone told him something he didn't want to hear. Well, that had gotten him the reward he deserved in the end when ZAFT finally managed to catch up with him.

But it had also left the new leader of what remained of Blue Cosmos with a staff that automatically lied to him to keep themselves from harm. Teaching them not to do that was eating precious time he could ill afford to spend on it. Unfortunately, he was going to be in a very dangerously information-deprived state until he drove that lesson home. It wasn't always possible to take yet more time to do his own hacking to keep himself completely informed. So he never raised his voice to anyone who brought the messages. Nor did he do their careers any harm, even if they'd been stupid in their own analysis. Honest punishments for stupidity would have to wait until they were confident enough to be honest with him first.

"Sergeant?" Commander Hannam asked gently.

"That, that is correct sir." The man admitted unhappily. "He really didn't supply us with anything we didn't get from the PLANTs own broadcasts."

"I see. Well, leave the report. I'll go over it before the meeting. Make sure everyone else has a copy and see to it that they know I will be discussing it then."

"Yes sir!" The heavyset non-com put the report disc on the desk, saluted, and fled.

Hannam let him go; deliberately dropping his own head after he returned the man's salute to allow him to scamper out without feeling like his Commander was aware of what he was doing. The report he picked up, which he did intend to study carefully, was the real data 'Longbranch' had turned in. He scowled at it.

The damn Coordinators were going to revive FAITH. He'd hoped the late Chairman Dullindal's misuse of the group would have killed it. The concept of a fast response team, beholden to no one in the political structure of the PLANTs, had no appeal. This newly restructured group was going to be dangerous. Yzak Joule alone was a major problem. The damned young Commander had matured into someone who could use his ferocious temper instead of being used by it. But it was an unexpected stroke of genius on the silver bastard's part to have him select Yamato for a second in command.

Albert stared savagely at the inoffensive photo of Commander Kira Yamato. This was a potential disaster for their organization. Yamato was respected and feared, despite his well-documented reluctance to kill. In fact, it was that reluctance that made him so damn dangerous. _Everyone_ knew what it took to push him that far. And there wasn't a government on the planet or out in space any more that wanted him that angry. Not after he'd demonstrated just how impossible it was to either kill or stop him all the way through the last war. Worse, he was becoming something of a legend to the general public. A frightening number of people would look twice at anything Yamato opposed; and they wouldn't be doing it with friendly eyes.

He had to die. If Blue Cosmos was ever going to lead the people, and the dream of freeing humanity from the domination of those lab-created abominations was ever going to become reality, they had to get rid of the supposedly invincible Yamato. It was all a question of finding the right combination of circumstances that would allow them to take him down. If they did it right, they'd get Joule with him and maybe the Clyne bitch too.

Hannam heard the door to his private suite open behind him and light footsteps came up by his right shoulder. "Ah, the little Yamato monster. I saw the broadcast. He'll be an obstacle."

"We have to kill him." Albert said simply.

His sister snorted delicately. "Easier said than done! He has more lives than any five cats."

"Yes," Hannam agreed quietly. "But we must find a way. He's a figurehead we can't afford."

"He's more than just a figurehead, brother mine. He's quite capable of defending himself."

"Only in a mobile suit. There is no record at all of his having any ability at all without one."

She snorted again. "Yes, I suppose so but how do you plan to get him out of his mobile suit eh? He isn't going to visit Earth without it these days and I hear he doesn't even travel between those wretched PLANTs without it."

Albert looked up, meeting dark blue eyes that were a match for his own in his twin's face. "I don't know yet. I'm seeking inspiration at the moment. But we need to find it fairly quickly or he'll be too entrenched in the public's mind. They lean toward him and his fool's generosity now. Give him enough time and he'll become an icon. If it gets that far, not even death will rid us of his influence."

"You just need to get him alone for a short while." She said indifferently. "Not even Yamato can survive if enough enemies come for him at the same time. Napci and his people want a shot at him. So does Ruhde and Boothe. That's three full fleets and their mobile suits. Pirates are notorious for their inefficiency but in this case, with them all having so many mobile suits they've recovered and repaired since that last battle over the Moon, they should have the manpower to destroy even the Strike-Freedom. And if they fail, what have we lost? They're getting too demanding anyway. Even if they succeed, Yamato will cut them down to size for us before they can kill him."

Hannam gave that idea a thoughtful once-over. Crystal had a point. The three pirate leaders were beginning to get very arrogant and uncomfortably demanding. Blue Cosmos had lost all but a few small ships of it's own; with Phantom Pain gone, they had to depend on hiring outsiders to do things they'd done for themselves only months ago. The outsiders understood their current advantage. They understood it was likely to be temporary too. They intended to bleed their 'partners' of every cent and spare part they could before they were tossed aside and they weren't bothering to be subtle about it.

"The idea has merit." He said slowly. "But we'll need a near-perfect situation or they won't go for it."

The woman smiled, an expression she never let anyone but her brother see. The greed and megalomania in it would not have pleased the people who'd once fondly thought they ran the twin's lives. But LOGOS was as dead as dead could be now. They had no masters to report to any longer. They made the rules and the rewards would stop on their plates. She intended to see to it that those plates were piled high indeed; he knew that and he knew her intelligence. So when she wore that look, he waited patiently to hear what her ideas were. They were always interesting. They could almost always be either used or adapted to advance their plans as well.

"Joel Pearson will be going to the PLANTs for that stupid treaty meeting in a few weeks." She said slowly. "The Foreign Minister is an ass and a fool but _he_ thinks he's a genius. Marcia has managed to worm her way into his bed far enough to be recognized as his mistress. You know Pearson wants those L-4 colonies back in Alliance control. He's been promising people he'll reestablish the true human race's place in space for years now. I can have Marcia start suggesting he make a push for their control at the meeting. And that he demand a 'suitable' escort from the ZAFT to assure his safety when he does a fly-by on his way home."

Albert looked up with a smile that would have done justice to a starving T-Rex. "There are any number of good ambush possibilities in and around those wrecks, it would be a shame if someone were careless enough to go too deeply into the cluster."

"Very careless if it were to cost them the Foreign Minister and ZAFT's most famous pilot." She grinned back. "And wouldn't that be a black eye for the PLANTs if such a senior Alliance official were to die while under their 'protection'? Especially when he was up there to discuss the peace."

The Commander nodded slowly, a frighteningly happy look on his face. "I will leave it to you to work out the program with Marcia to get that idea lodged firmly in the fool's empty head. I'll speak to our 'allies' and see if we can't get them to do this job for free. After all, Boothe has publicly offered to kill Yamato at no charge for anyone who wants him dead several times."

"And if you aren't paying one, you certainly can't pay the other two." She laughed. "George Napci has made the same offer a time or two himself. If you can force their hands, Ruhde won't have a leg to stand on."

He tossed the report into his in-basket, he knew what he was going to tell the others at the meeting now. "Looks like we have the outline of a plan."


	6. Chapter 6

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Traveling and collecting news.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Vice Foreign Minister Dorlian settled the unaccustomed weight of her carry-sak over her right shoulder. Nor was that weight all she was trying to become accustomed to quickly. The assassination attempt on Dorothy had made it terribly clear that it was time, maybe past time, to make a decision and leave. The apparent ease with which they'd gotten into the Residence quite frankly frightened her. If her brother and his wife hadn't come for a clandestine visit, the enemy might well have carried out their mission.

As it was, Milliardo had killed four of them and Noin had taken down another pair, breaking up the attack and allowing them both to capture the last two. It had been a very short-lived triumph though. Both captives had bitten down on poison capsules they'd had hidden in false teeth and died in under a minute. To say her brother was angry about losing them like that was a serious understatement. Even now, she wasn't inclined to mention the loss to him. He was still wearing anger like a second skin.

All this accounted for her finding herself walking swiftly through the main train station in the Sanq capital, trying to keep up with her brother and wearing a thorough if hastily assembled disguise. Her dark honey-blond hair was now an attractive light auburn and she wore it in a single braid that fell forward over her right shoulder. The deep, almost forest green blouse was belted over a rich mahogany skirt that fell almost to her ankles. She was wearing plain black flats and a multi-strand necklace of bright beads that drew attention to itself and away from her face.

Carefully chosen eye shadow turned her clear blue eyes to a much muddier color unless one looked quite closely. The impression was helped by the sallow tones of the makeup brushed on so delicately. Even her lipstick had been selected with an eye to dulling the overall appearance of her face. And she wore beaded earrings with very long fringes that matched the necklace and drew the eyes that did rise to her face downward again toward her jaw. All in all, 'Ree Dancer' looked nothing like the neatly turned out, professional diplomat who was Relena Dorlian.

Dorothy Catalonia stalked beside her, angrier than Milliardo was. Not only was she furious about the attack, she was disgusted with the disguise. First and foremost among the things she was never going to forgive the attackers for was forcing her to allow Noin to pluck her distinctive forked eyebrows. Now she had only one eyebrow line, the high one that made her look almost elvish because the angle was so pronounced. And her pale gold hair had been dyed to complement Relena's light auburn. On Dorothy, it had come out more a very dark strawberry blond than auburn but it was most definitely not a golden blond! She didn't like the braid either, having pointed out, quite cuttingly and quite often, that she was NOT Duo Maxwell. Neither Milliardo nor Noin had paid the slightest attention to that objection, which had only made her madder. Relena sighed as silently as she could. This was not going to make this escape any easier.

A warm, golden brown blouse with lace at the front and a deep charcoal skirt over brown flats made up the base of Dorothy's costume. She got to wear a double string of plain amber beads with matching earrings. Her makeup was chosen to emphasize the brown tones, to deepen her apparent skin shade from its natural paleness to something more golden. All in all, somehow, they now looked like they might be related. It had been a shock to them both when they'd recognized that.

Her brother's hair was now an auburn that matched hers quite closely. He too, wore it braided down his back. And like Maxwell, his braid also hid a rather interesting array of small objects that normal people wouldn't keep in their hair. Relena had decided the metal ones all had to be made of gundanium when he stalked through a security scan without setting off the smallest blip.

His shirt was midnight blue and both the tunic and the slacks were black. He even had a single, heavy gold hoop in his left ear. Low black half-boots completed his outfit.

Noin had let her hair grow since Relena had last seen her. It tumbled to her shoulders now and she'd shortened the bangs enough to be noticeable to anyone who remembered the former Oz officer she'd once been. Her dark hair wasn't readily adaptable to a simple dye job so they'd settled for streaking it heavily with silver hair paint. She wore silver eye shadow and a silver blouse under a deep gray vest. A skirt very similar to Dorothy's completed her outfit as she had no jewelry at all other than a wedding ring that wasn't the handcrafted masterpiece Milliardo had given her.

The results of all these disguises was to make them not only not look like themselves but to appear to be a single group as well. The similarity of the clothing and the jewelry, all from a single style really, helped that immensely. So did the almost matching hair color for the three of them. A study a Residence mirror had shown her a family group with the man's wife accompanying them. Despite the plainness of the clothes, they looked like they were well off members of the new 'Traditionalist' movement that had been taking such sweeping hold in certain European circles controlled by the remaining Romefeller families lately. And with that movement's emphasis on the dominance of the male, it would surprise no one when Milliardo did all the talking for them as they traveled as well.

Getting them all ready had taken more time than she'd wanted to allow for it. It meant they'd missed the flight she'd initially chosen for them too. But that delay had proven very beneficial. Among other things, it had given General Une a chance to reach Milliardo and persuade him to allow her to put him back on the Preventer's active roster. Once he'd agreed, however reluctantly, Noin had accepted as well. The General was only half-pleased though. Apparently the assassination attempt had forced her to change the plans she'd had for Milliardo and Noin. Relena hadn't heard most of that discussion but she had seen her brother's face when it ended and she rather thought perhaps it was no bad thing that he wasn't being hauled off wherever Une had first wanted to send him.

The other thing that had happened wasn't nearly so pleasant. Less than two hours after it had taken off, the plane they'd intended to take to Japan vanished with all aboard somewhere in the Indian Ocean near the Arabian peninsula. Someone inside the Residence had to be on two payrolls as no one at the airline had the slightest idea who had purchased those tickets. They had slipped out of the Residence through the escape tunnel under the panic room, telling no one, not even Pagan, where they were going or how they were going to get there.

She knew Milliardo hadn't mentioned that short message from J either. She hadn't understood a word of it but her brother and Noin certainly had. Given some of the very colorful things he was muttering when he read it, J had sent the message in one of the old but supposedly still secret high level Oz codes. Whatever it said, it had acted much like lighting a fire under him would have. He had them organized and out of the Residence less than twenty minutes later.

They slowed and came together in a tight cluster a few meters from the rest of the waiting passengers that were crowding the platforms where the trains were loading. Her role was to be silent and obedient but that didn't preclude also being watchful or observant. Nor was she surprised when Dorothy came to stand erectly beside her, her look of disdainful boredom a good cover for razor keen eyes that missed nothing around her.

"Zane," she spoke very softly, managing to remember the cover name he'd only mentioned once. "Will you please tell me where we're going?"

"Too public." Milliardo replied just as quietly.

Relena kept a scowl off her face only by an effort of heroic self control. She really was getting tired of everyone's assumption that she was a fool or an idiot who couldn't keep her mouth shut. Not even Duo Maxwell at his most suspicious, or Chang at his most misogynistic, had treated her like she was such a vast security risk! That it was coming from her brother was irritating her.

"We have company." Noin said so quietly it was more intuited than heard. "They don't seem to recognize us. Don't look around. Let him deal with it."

A quick side glance showed her Dorothy standing impossibly uncharacteristically subdued. It was the posture of a thoroughly cowed 'Traditional' daughter. It suggested Milliardo was a very vicious monster indeed to reduce someone to this. It was horrifying – and damned effective.

Relena couldn't copy it, but she could look a lot more browbeaten than most realized when she needed to. She dived into a character from an old school play, and crumpled in on herself. She became 'little Susie', the abused child from that nasty story the Headmistress had liked so well. Once, she'd practiced this role in front of mirrors in an effort to make it look real. Now she didn't need the mirrors to know that any watcher would see a girl who'd just received a severe reprimand, and who feared worse when she was out of this public place.

She was very careful not to look around at all. But the man passed close enough for her to see him without needing to do anything suspicious at all. The look he gave all three of the girls made her more than a bit sick to her stomach. But it was the fact that he was wearing the uniform of a Preventer Captain that alarmed her. What was someone like that doing in the _Preventers_?

The malicious expression was gone as quickly as it had come. He simply nodded pleasantly to Milliardo and walked on by. Her brother gave him a small, almost distracted nod back as he turned most of his attention to the small folder in his hand.

And that was all there was to the incident. Whoever he was, the strange Captain didn't even break stride as he sailed past their small group. Milliardo consulted his folder with a focused frown that she knew was false. He was watching that man, and he was making sure he hadn't left any 'friends' around to follow them.

She found herself very glad for those small lessons in how to observe without appearing to be doing any such thing Trowa had given her after the Mariemaia War. She was just as grateful for the breezy lectures from Duo on why some behaviors were suspicious and others weren't, and how to recognize when circumstances might change which was which. The advice from Quatre regarding how to be overlooked and underestimated was coming in handy today too.

The one set of lessons she hoped she wasn't going to need were the secret ones in self defense she'd managed to convince Wu Fei to give her. For while she would be an unpleasant surprise for any attacker, she knew enough now to know just how much more there was to learn. Nor did she have any delusions about her skill. Any professional was going to be much, much better than she was. And once the surprise factor was gone, so was she. For despite truly heroic efforts on his part, 'Fei hadn't been able teach her even the small amount of aggression she'd need to survive such a fight.

They boarded their train a bit later. No one seemed to be paying them any serious attention. They did catch a lot of glances but none of them were ugly and Relena was used to what they were getting; both the admiring and the lecherous were all too familiar to someone who spent as much time in the public eye as she had. None of them responded to any of the looks; they were all as familiar with them as she was.

It wasn't until they were seated in a private compartment with the door firmly closed and the train starting to pull out that she saw something that chilled her to her core. The malignant Preventer Captain was standing on another section of the platform, clearly waiting for his train to begin boarding. The man was facing away from her. But he wasn't the focus of her attention. It was the two who had joined him that shocked her.

Dieter Von Rubenstein was a very powerful and influential lobbyist. The man had access to a stunning array of people in positions of power thanks to the company he'd inherited from his father after the Eve Wars. The Von Rubenstein Agency had been large and well respected for decades before the Wars, he'd only expanded it since he'd come to the chairman's seat.

The man was arrogant and condescending towards all women although he was good at hiding it in public. He was also quite wealthy and moved in the best circles. So why was he standing on a public train platform dressed like no one special and holding himself in a manner that made it clear to anyone with lessons from Quatre that he was the inferior in the conversation he was having with the Preventer? Her eyes narrowed slightly as she gave him a quick but intent study. She decided he wasn't doing that on purpose, that it was something subconscious, some unknown level of power the Captain had over him that put that almost invisible curve in his spine and rounded his shoulders ever so slightly. Who was that bastard? And why, she thought with some shock, did she automatically think of the Captain with that word?

Unsettling as Von Rubenstein was, it was the other young man who had such cold fingers dancing up her spine. Because that was Rodney Holmes, socialite and all around useless toady to the powerful of the political left. And no, she didn't care one whit that his hair was blond when Holmes had dark brown hair. It was Rodney! The idiot should have done more than bleach his hair if he didn't want people to recognize him.

But it was impossible really. It couldn't be Rodney. Rodney had been killed when an unsuspected weakness in a high canyon wall had brought many tons of stone down on the cars carrying Senator Locke and his entourage to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Flatwoods Gorge bridge three days ago!

"Ree," Dorothy said quietly. "Isn't that your appointment undersecretary, Lavonsky?"

Relena followed the discretely pointing hand and recognized the bland, dark haired man who she'd had order the fortunately wasted airline tickets only a few hours earlier as he slipped up to the others and joined them. "Yes."

"Is he?" Milliardo asked almost too softly to hear. "And what business would your appointment undersecretary have with that Preventer?"

"More importantly, why is he meeting him in the company of a dead man?" Dorothy asked gently but very coldly as she confirmed what Relena already knew. "Holmes was supposed to have been killed days ago when that rock fall swept Senator Locke's entire party into the river. Pay no attention to the hair that _is_ Holmes!"

"Don't watch them." Noin hissed. "The older one is getting suspicious."

She was right Relena realized. Von Rubenstein was beginning to look around him with the same kind of hidden, careful looks Trowa had taught her how to use. She sat back in her seat and turned slightly away from the window, making sure her eyes were turned down. The weight of hostile eyes brushed her briefly. Then the train was past the four of them and gathering speed as it pulled away from the station.

"I think we can guess who is being paid twice now." Relena said evenly. "We need to know who the Preventer is though. General Une needs to know about him."

"I know him." Noin said bitterly. "That's Ramirez. He shares an office with Wu Fei. This is getting out of hand too quickly!"

"I know." Milliardo replied, frozen anger lacing his nearly inaudible words. "We can only hope we've moved fast enough."

"Where are we going?" Relena asked the question he'd refused to answer earlier.

"London. We'll need to buy some other clothes, things that don't so clearly mark us as coming from Sanq. Then we need to get to America. And we need to do all this in the next twenty hours or so. Because _you_ will be missed."

She nodded, all too aware of what he meant. She had an active schedule and a very public one. Pagan could hide the fact that she wasn't at the Residence for a bit but not even he could keep her leaving a secret much more than a single day. And once that happened, in one of Duo's more apt phrases, all hell was going to be let out for noon.

She eyed both 'Wind' and 'Fire'. "I take it that message you were cursing had instructions in it?"

Noin just nodded. "Very clear ones. J's going to make sure all the pawns come together at one point very soon now. And then we leave."

Relena didn't ask where they were leaving for. This was a private compartment but she knew how much information someone with the right gear could collect even without having any active devices inside the door. One of the advantages of knowing the Gundam pilots was getting to listen to them tell war stories when they relaxed. Oh, they carefully pruned them of most of the blood and terror when they knew she was there but that was fine with her. She'd seen enough of that for herself to last her several lifetimes. No, it was the interesting tidbits of data on how they'd done some of those insane missions that she'd found so fascinating.

That information had already made her chose her words carefully since they'd fled the Residence and pitch her voice quite low and terribly softly. No one was going to read any betraying vibrations off the door to their compartment if she could help it. She wasn't as worried about the window though. According to Trowa a moving target like a train window was terribly hard to read. She rather doubted they, whoever 'they' were, had anyone as good as The Silencer to do their spying. And if Barton said it was nearly impossible for him, she could permit herself to feel relatively safe from whomever they might have.

She sat back in the seat and tried to allow herself to at least pretend to enjoy the trip. The others clearly felt the same way. They chatted about books, plays, flowers, and the sad state of the southern wine country. Politics were avoided. Anything military was ignored. And the subjects of space or the colonies simply did not exist. The wandering discussion took them all the way to London.

* * *

G hissed softly as the new n-jammer canceller slid into the space they'd managed to make below the mounting for the Wing Zero's reactor. The alien tech was surprisingly logical once they'd torn into it, making it easier to adapt to their mobile suits than they'd dared hope. The systems weren't perfectly compatible of course but they were more than close enough to allow them to come up with a solid, if jury-rigged, set of connectors and activation switches. The cancellers were going to be slightly underpowered but set up right underneath the reactors like this it wouldn't matter. Their field would cover the essential areas at close to full effectiveness.

The Zero was the last suit to get its new equipment. Heero had done so much modification work to the damn suit in the year between the Eve Wars and the Mariemaia Incident that it was the trickiest of the suits to get the canceller into. Honestly, you'd think the boy had a hot rod, not a mobile suit with all the tweaking he'd done! He still didn't understand the stupid feather-type wings. The suit couldn't convert to bird-mode with those mounted and while they were much better in the atmosphere than the old, hard thruster mount wings had been, the loss of the disguise factor of the fighter form disturbed him. G didn't agreed with J's putting it back together with as many of the boy's changes intact as they could manage but it hadn't been his call to make so he kept most of his grumbling to himself.

He was even less sure about restoring the Zero System. Yes, J had done some serious work on it. It shouldn't overwhelm the mind nearly as severely as the first design had done. But still, it was the full _Zero System_, it was going to have a powerful affect on anyone who used it. He'd much rather that they'd used the heavily modified version that Heero had temporarily installed in Sandrock for that last battle with the Libra and White Fang.

J had nixed that idea immediately, pointing out there was too much loss of possibilities being offered to the pilot with the modified system. Which was the whole point of using it as G saw it. It made the System much more accessible to a much wider selection of mental types. One of the reasons so few could really use the full System was that very overpowering array of choices it sent through the mind of human linked to it. You needed a very strong and logical mindset to master the Zero System. Heero had that. So did Zechs and, to a slightly lesser extent, so did both Quatre and the Catalonia girl.

In fact, it was so necessary that a free-association thinker like Maxwell was always going to be swamped under by the massive linear data flood. His mind attached too many other things to the data flow and overloaded under the mass the choices created for him. Considering it had been the original, unmodified System, it really was amazing that he'd survived his one encounter with it with his personality and his sanity intact!

It went without saying that there was no version at all of the Zero System installed in the newly rebuilt Deathscythe Hell. Shinigami didn't really need it. His combat style didn't take well to guidance in any form to begin with. No, Maxwell could manage very nicely on his own. There was something to be said for the unpredictability of a serious free-association mind. Mate that to the boy's uncanny ability to get the most out of his suit and a Zero System was honestly redundant anyway.

The Wing Zero had a full system of course. However, the Sandrock and the Heavyarms both had a somewhat smaller edition of the limited version Heero had used at Libra and even the renewed Altron carried a few of the circuits. Each one was carefully matched to the boy who would be using the mobile suit. The idea was to maximize their individual advantages without breaking anyone's mind.

Not even J was stupid enough to want to see anything close to what had happened to Quatre's brain and soul repeated by overloading them. Poor boy had destroyed an entire colony under the influence of the unmodified System. All of them were highly trained soldiers with an expertise in what could only honestly be called terrorist tactics. Short-circuiting any of their dangerously deadly mindsets would get a lot of innocent people killed. And _that_ was most emphatically not the objective here!

G sat awkwardly on the narrow platform behind the Zero and methodically hooked up the control harness to the stolen canceller. It was a one-man job at this point. There just wasn't any space for both of them to work here. Besides, J needed to be watching their taps into the global network now. There had been more and more hints that Crimson Dawn knew too much; neither of them honestly thought they'd get much warning before it became necessary to bring the boys straight here.

He was washing up when J found him. One look at the other's angry face told G something major had broken. He cast one quick look over his shoulder at the five silent mobile suits racked behind him. And he knew as he did that they were lucky they were ready to go. Because he was suddenly sure they were out of time.

"Did everything go well?" J asked stiffly.

"Perfectly. They're all set now."

"Good. There are several interesting stories in the news today." J growled. "Something happened in a moderate sized salvage yard on L2 that left the place nothing but wreckage. Not a single building still standing. The residence on the site is completely gone; a burned crater a few meters deep is all that's left of it. No idea if there were any casualties or not."

"Maxwell's place." G said with complete certainty.

J nodded. "Then, on L4, there was some mishap during the performance of an acrobatic team with a traveling circus. All four of the performers were killed when their rigging came apart during the grand finale. There were several injured in the audience and among the other performers in the secondary rings at the time."

"Barton's people." G identified grimly.

"Correct. 03 is not among the dead or injured of course. Someone else was headlining that show. And there's some reason to believe Maxwell's house was empty when it blew up too. It seems no one has seen Hilde or old Howard for a week or more."

"Someone didn't do their homework."

"No, they didn't. But the major story is the attack on the Winner residence in Riyadh. There was a battle there worthy of the Eve Wars. The attackers managed to penetrate into the house itself but none got out alive. The family is not releasing any information on casualties."

G scowled savagely. "So they have their names now."

"All five of them. Une admitted today that someone broke into Chang's desk two days ago. The only thing she's sure is missing is his signed picture of the five of them and their Gundams, the one Duo managed to get them to pose for just after the Libra battle. Une said someone searched Chang's home last night too. Since he wasn't there, they don't seem to have damaged anything."

Have you sent any instructions to the boys yet today?" G asked thoughtfully.

"Not yet. I haven't sent anything to Zechs either."

He looked up at his colleague. "The games are over. We have to get them off planet now. We keep thinking of Crimson Dawn as small and relative to an old style nation, it is. But its damn well thought out and they have eyes in all the wrong places – well from our point of view that is. From where they sit, they have all the right spots covered. The boys are traveling as a group. I would suspect at least one is in drag but that isn't going to be enough any longer. They're going to be watching for specific numbers. Five and four, the pilots and Relena's company. And any group with the right ages and sizes that travels together now is going to be checked out."

J simply nodded heavily. "I know. At least we've prepared for this. And they're all on the same continent today. The boys can drive down to Quatre's shuttle. The others will have to take one last flight. But we can have them all together by late afternoon, local time, and off planet by dark."

"The Gundams are ready." G replied. "The supplies are collected, even the extras for the fugitives from Sanq. We can start putting them across into that hanger right after lunch."

"We're going to have to use the fourth site. It's the only one with enough bedrooms and baths." J said uneasily. "I wish I knew why I don't like that one."

G drew a single deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn't like their fourth choice location either. Yes, it had a hanger large enough to take ten mobile suits. It even had the racks for them although they were clearly designed for construction or maintenance suits rather than war machines. Not that it was going to be any problem, they'd be easy enough to adapt to securely holding a Gundam. The boys wouldn't need much more than a day to make the needed changes.

It had a corridor with individual living suites. Each had a bed, bath, sitting room, and small cooking area. They were nicely appointed too. Despite what had obviously been a long time of neglect, the furniture looked to be solid and tester probes had found the air, water, lights, and heat all still operational.

And then there were those three big storage rooms. Perfect for the quantity of supplies they were going to have to send over with them. They couldn't just run out to the store for anything there. The colony itself was almost abandoned. The only people they'd noted on their careful scouting forays with the stealth probes had been a handful of scavenger teams digging in the ruins for unknown 'treasures'.

But the site had unmistakably been hidden from someone right from the time it was built. The connection into that eerily stripped out structure above it had been designed to be a secret, one not easily found from either side of the door either. Secrets like that sometimes continued to have value to whoever built them long after the cover site was a ruin.

J shrugged finally. "We don't have any other viable options. And we don't have the time to hunt for them either. Once the boys get here, we'll have to get them across quickly. I don't know what team the Preventers will be sending up to relieve Nelson now that Chang has been forced into hiding but whoever it is will be taking over four days from now. Everything has to be gone from here and the reactor set back to standby before then."

Letting his eyes drift to the only viewport in the hanger, G just gave the neatly ranked pallet loads of supplies that floated in space just outside the port a weary look. J was right. Those were far too obviously _not_ battle wreckage. The blindest fool the Preventers ever enlisted couldn't miss the message they wrote large out there that the place was far from being as deserted as it was supposed to be.

"Well, you better start by putting Yuy on alert then." G said as he turned toward their own small kitchen. "I'll see what can be done with that new crate of rations you found. We might as well enjoy the best ones now or Maxwell will steal them as soon as he gets here."

"He can bring his own chocolate." J grumped as he headed for the computer.

G just grinned.

* * *

Trowa woke up to find himself snuggled between Quatre and Wu Fei. Despite the lack of windows, he realized it had to be morning already. Quatre had drawn third watch for last night; he wouldn't be here if Heero hadn't relieved him and Yuy wouldn't have taken over until almost dawn.

The acrobat smiled slightly. If he was going to be honest with himself, he was kind of surprised Yuy had been able to take over a watch after the way they'd started the evening. The blatant sexual attraction the Japanese had been radiating at Quatre's lake house was largely gone; burned out by an unrelenting nightly course of demanding sex involving them all. He was still on the receiving end at this point but Trowa was sure that wasn't going to last much longer. Yuy was beginning to eye Maxwell rather like a starved dog eyed a large steak. And he knew the other could get out of those restraints any time he really wanted to now.

In truth, it had been beneficial for all of them. Heero had been the most deprived and so showed his needs the most but they'd all been radiating to some extent. And now they were all back to safe levels that didn't catch eyes in public. He hadn't seen anyone eyeing their team with that kind of interest for the last two days, and he'd been watching closely for it. Then too, Quatre had mentioned how much easier it was getting to drift through public spaces with his 'space heart' unmolested by unwanted attentions from strangers.

He sighed softly, aware now of all the lumps and irregularities in the mattress that hadn't been important enough to register last night. This was their eighth safe house in the last eleven days. The previous seven had been decent enough places if not up to the standards of Quatre's lake home but this was a dump. The orders that had come in last evening had put them on stand-by status. He was not happy to think they might have to stay a second night. He'd been spoiled by nearly three years of peace and civilized living, although he admitted it only to the privacy of his own mind.

The place was hidden in the back of a near-ruin of an old warehouse tucked hard against Milwaukee's Mitchell Field and the nearly constant rumble and scream of aircraft taking off and landing hadn't been an asset to sleep. The roof leaked, the floor was warped, the sinks dripped and it came with hot and cold running bugs but no reliable water. If he was any judge the building was probably condemned too; he just hadn't been able to clearly read the notice posted on the boarded over loading dock doors when they'd slipped in yesterday. At least Duo's shopping expedition had brought back foods that needed neither cooking nor refrigeration. He wondered how the Deathscythe pilot had known the kitchen had no working appliances when he'd picked up their groceries; he'd gone shopping before they ever saw that disaster.

Movement on the wall beside the bed caught his eye. He turned his head in time to see a millipede of some kind wander onto a shiny line where Quatre's insecticide had accidentally struck the wall. Trowa watched in morbid fascination as the luckless bug crossed, and then went into insect-convulsions seconds later before falling off the wall and out of his sight.

Chalk up one more for the foresighted Arab. The only reason they'd been able to use the decrepit queen and lone single bed this hole boasted was because the blond had sprayed the life – literally in this case – out of them both before he let any of them even touch them. As it was, the blankets were suspect enough that they'd torn those off and dumped them in the useless bathtub along with the flat wrecks that masqueraded as pillows rather than risk using either of them. Sleeping in his clothes wasn't Trowa's favorite thing to do. Nor was using his duffel for a pillow. But it kept him from getting too cold without having to use the unsafe blankets.

A creak from the unstable floor drew his eye to the doorframe. The door itself was long gone, making the acrobat wonder just what this place was used for when it wasn't hiding Gundam pilots. The fact that there weren't any doors inside the place was curious although he doubted he'd ever get any answer for it.

Heero suddenly appeared in the open doorway. When he saw Trowa was awake he gave him a small hand sign. So, they had a message from J did they? He frowned slightly as Yuy's quick fingers told him the message wasn't complete. But, they were now on active standby it seemed. His eyes narrowed; so they weren't going to be stuck there much longer. A second glance at Heero told him the Wing's pilot was sliding into mission mode. Yuy thought things were about to start moving too eh? Then it was time to get up. The moment Heero left he sat up, knowing his abrupt movement would wake both Quatre and Wu Fei.

"Is there some reason for us to be awake in this dismal place?" Chang asked irritably.

"Heero was just here. J has us on active standby. Get up and find something fresh to wear. We'll probably be moving on short notice. Yuy was wearing his bodysuit and was dressed to go out."

Twenty minutes later, they were packed. The erratic water supply had worked for a while, long enough to let all three of them at least manage a sketchy wash and toothbrushing. It had been winter-cold again though; they were all very awake now.

Since they expected to have to move again, Trowa pulled out his last clean traveling outfit. The textured brown shirt and black denim jeans were almost new and quite respectable. They were also completely forgettable. He didn't bother with the matching jacket other than to put it on top of his duffle when he dropped it beside Duo and Heero's on the sheet Quatre had sprayed so they would have a place to put things they didn't want the bugs to take over.

"Hee-chan's manning the computer." Duo announced cheerfully, his hard eyes belying the happy voice. "Looks like we're coming to the end of these stupid little dodge-around trips."

"Good." Quatre said bluntly. "We aren't getting anywhere doing this. Someone is going to count to five and notice us if we keep this up. They may be looking for boys but I doubt they're thick enough to ignore any consistently moving group of five."

Duo nodded. "Yeah, Hee-chan thinks the same thing. He's set to argue with J if this looks like one more wasted move. Like the outfit by the way Q-man."

"Thank you. We've been traveling as three boys and two girls too long. It was time to change the ratio before we got too much attention."

Trowa looked over at his partner, not expecting what he found. He blinked, and smiled. So that was why he'd insisted on being the last one through the bath! It also explained that raid on the lingerie shop a couple stops back. The slender blond made as striking a girl as Duo did.

Quatre had a light-boned build to start with. Wearing that blouse and the rather heavily decorated, many pocketed jeans, he looked outright fragile. The clothes were well worn but still quite reasonable. Trowa could only wonder where he'd found them. They hadn't had all that much time to go shopping after all and he hadn't seen them in the other's kit before.

Heero stuck his head out of the room they'd arbitrarily labeled the den. "The instructions will begin downloading in about half an hour. J suggests we dump most of what we've got for luggage in some charity bin and pick up things we'll want to keep. I'd say we're about to get a real destination this time."

Duo raised both eyebrows. "Wonder what bit him?"

"It must have bitten rather hard." Quatre said thoughtfully. "We've only been playing his game eleven days. It isn't like J to give up his amusements this quickly."

"That," Wu Fei noted grimly, "is entirely dependent on what else is going on that we don't know yet."

Trowa nodded slightly, "Duo, you know where to find one of the recycled clothing stores don't you? I would like to scrap my laundry and replace it with outfits that no one has on record but brand new clothing isn't necessarily a good idea."

The braided pilot nodded. "Sure! Biggest one in the state is only a few blocks from here. There's a whole outlet mall right by it. They pretty much sell second class stuff but it'll look all right for a few trips through the wash. And it'll be cheap. I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't bring all that much cash with me."

"I have a good supply." Heero said evenly. "And I've just tapped into some accounts I haven't bled in a while too. I can get us all the cash we need."

"Hee-chan!" Duo cried in mock exasperation. "What do you think this is, the war? Who are ya stealing from these days?"

The Japanese shrugged indifferently. "Whoever has more than they can use. Besides, I'm not greedy. No one account loses enough to notice. It only adds up when I tap a dozen or more in one trip. That cash machine at the convenience store down the block will give us a good deal more than its supposed to once I run my special card through it. I have eight more machines primed too. If we can reach even three of them, we'll be in good shape for money."

"Never ignore money." Quatre said quietly. "The things you can buy your way out of tend to be a lot less conspicuous than the ones you have to fight your way out of. Give me that list please. I want to drop off the van we picked up a couple days ago. Duo and I can park it in some factory's lot and collect something different. Give me that card and we can stop by at least one or two of those machines while we're out."

"I'll go with you." Trowa said quickly as Heero handed over a brightly colored bankcard.

"You will not." Quatre replied immediately, slipping the card into a zippered pocket on his jeans. "Two girls spotted in passing at a site where a vehicle goes missing will be less remembered than two girls and a guy who might have known how to hotwire said missing vehicle. We'll be careful. This isn't a neighborhood to wander idly anyway. No one will expect us to stop or talk with them around here."

Duo nodded briskly. "Yeah, Q-man and I are just about right as we stand now. We're dressed only a step or so better than the area so the locals won't think we're ignorant targets and because we're both neat and clean, the local business' hired muscle will mostly ignore us. We don't look like trouble but we do look enough like we belong in this kind of area to be real forgettable."

"Looks like the two of you have aren't forgettable." Heero said evenly. "Keep to yourselves and don't encourage anyone. Be busy and focused. It'll discourage most at this time of day."

"'Ro! I know how to do this ya know!" Duo snapped.

Yuy's face was completely neutral again. "No you don't. You haven't been cross-dressing for the last three years on a regular basis, I have. You haven't learned how to assess your own appearance to safely anticipate the reactions of those you'll be out among like I've had to. You're both too pretty. You will catch eyes. And you don't want their owners to even have the idea that you might be available cross their minds. Because that isn't the kind of situation you can buy your way out of."

"I take it this is experience speaking?" Wu Fei asked.

Heero just nodded sharply, a bitter twist suddenly set on his lips. "Busy, focused. Don't forget those words. They'll allow you to ignore everything that doesn't put itself right in your path. And Quatre, if it comes down to a choice between money and safety, chose safety. As I said, I still have a fair stash. I can probably get us wherever we have to go even if we have to buy the tickets at the counter."

The blond Arab bobbed his head once as he bowed to Heero's greater experience. Yuy stayed a bit to play with Quatre's hair enough to turn it from neatly attractive to something of a frizzy mess. Nothing seriously bad, but enough to break up his 'first impression' looks. He wound Maxwell's braid once around the other's head before pulling it up and through itself twice at the very back of the boy's head. He unbraided the free end, leaving the now mid-back length free to blow around. It didn't exactly make Duo less attractive but it certainly wasn't anything like his typical appearance either. Trowa noted with some interest that both of them looked a couple years older once Yuy was done too.

"So," Duo asked as they slipped their jackets on, "any last items you want us to grab while we're out?"

"Can you stop at that second-hand clothing store for all of us?" Wu Fei asked. "I think perhaps two onnas shopping will be less noticeable than if we all go. You have a good idea of our sizes and preferences, you probably won't bring anything back that we'll have to throw out immediately."

"Love you too, Wu-fu." Duo glared.

"Yes we can." Quatre cut in before this could degenerate into a fight. "Anything else?"

"If that mall has a store with makeup, you might want to stop there too." Heero said thoughtfully. "I brought my kit but it isn't big enough to deal with the needs of all five of us much longer. I'm running low on foundations, shadows and hair paints. Use your imaginations but don't pick up anything too ugly. A good female disguise never looks like it's trying to hide your best features."

"Too true!" Duo laughed. "Hey, Q-ball! Lets roll!"

"Duo!" Heero suddenly snapped. "Buy yourself a skirt and something to go with it. You need to change your silhouette. You live too much in pants. Oh, and while at the makeup place, get some hair remover too. Women don't have fuzzy legs."

"Heero!"

"I'm not going to repeat myself. Just buy it!"

"But, I like my legs just how they are!"

"It grows back." Yuy said dismissively as he headed back to the den and his computer.

Quatre grabbed Maxwell and dragged him out of the door. Only after said door was completely closed did Trowa grin at Wu Fei, who offered him a smirk back. They turned and followed Yuy into the den. If there was going to be information, they wanted to be there when it arrived. Their timing was good, the computer started scrolling at a furious rate as they walked in.

* * *

The phone rang and Ramirez picked it up. "Preventers, Captain Ramirez speaking."

"The Sun rises."

Ramirez froze. This wasn't supposed to happen here. No one was ever supposed to call him while he was in the office. The Preventers recorded all phone conversations.

"What kind of joke is this?" He managed to snap.

"The birds flew but found no grain."

"If you do not explain yourself, I will order this call traced!" The Captain told the unknown speaker sharply.

"Find the grain." The line went dead.

He moved on a kind of auto-pilot. Alerting the central communications office to a possible prank call, Jose requested a trace. He was assured it would be done. He hung up and tried to breath normally again.

This was bad, very, very bad. Someone had decided the situation required possibly compromising him. That wasn't a decision another field agent could make. Only Headquarters could make a call like that, especially when the possibly compromised agent was as well set in an enemy organization as he was.

As his heart began to slow back toward something like normal, he reviewed the brief message. The Sun had told him there would be strike teams hitting the three vulnerable Gundam pilots. It was clear they'd all failed. None of the pilots had been killed. If what he'd heard was correct, they hadn't even been seen!

'Find the grain', that was the order. Find out where those Gundam pilots had vanished to. What went unsaid was the order to find out how they'd known to flee.

When was he supposed to do this? His team was going to be rotating up for space duty in four more days! The ramp-up was already going full speed. His days were committed and because of the imminent rotation out, he had to check in during the evenings to be sure there weren't any hitches developing. He couldn't vanish for any length of time at all now, it would be noticed immediately.

'Find the grain'. Just because he'd stumbled on one Gundam pilot, why did anyone think he could find them all? He didn't even know where the one he _had_ found had gone! You'd think General Une's signature on his leave papers was a vanishing spell, Chang had disappeared so completely!

His mind skidded to a stop, then began to reassess what he'd just been thinking. Chang had vanished after the General had signed his leave papers. She'd signed them personally, had called the Chinese Captain into her office and he'd had his leave approved by the time he left. Maybe, just maybe, the Gundam pilots hadn't known a thing. Une was the one who knew something. She'd sent Chang off and somehow warned the others!

Shit! How much did the woman know? Where had she learned whatever it was she'd found out that made her send Chang away? Who else knew what Une knew?

Ramirez settled back coldly. Something had spooked the General. She had sent Chang into hiding. One of them, Chang or Une, had alerted the other pilots. There was a security breach somewhere in the Dawn organization itself. Nothing else fit.

He had no answer to the order to find the pilots but this had to be reported. If the breach was ongoing, the entire rational revolution was in danger. Jose eyed his phone but knew he couldn't use it. The auto-record program could be disabled but if there was a breach large enough to have Une sending the Gundam pilots into hiding, then she probably had someone watching to see if anyone tampered with the phones. She clearly realized at least the possibility of the Preventers being infiltrated.

He snarled silently at the desk across from his. The luck the Gundams were so famous for had struck again. Despite his lack of time, he was going to have to make a trip to the Officers Club. Only a direct hand-off would do in this kind of situation. Anything less wouldn't get the message delivered quickly enough.

He set up his small touch-pad and hurriedly composed a request for assistance in breaking into the General's office and safe. The data they needed would be there, he was sure of it. The woman was a hopeless creature of habit after all. Everything important went into her office safe.

* * *

Quiet, pale slate blue eyes watched the video from the hidden camera. So, it appeared Anne Une had been right. This one was a mole. Well, there were things that could be done about that.

The touch-pad interested the watcher. Those recorded everything entered onto them. Officially, it was child's play to wipe their memory units. The problem was, that wipe wasn't permanent as people thought. It took unusual skill and a delicate touch but it was possible to recover everything from a touch-pad. Both Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell had that skill. And Duo had been generous enough to share it with the watcher at the end of the Eve Wars. If the pad could be acquired, it could be made to tell whatever it knew.

It was unfortunate that it wasn't possible to read what the mole was entering. The camera just couldn't catch the surface at a good enough angle. It really was going to be necessary to get the pad itself to get the answers. Well, that could be arranged later. For the moment, it was important to prevent this traitor from succeeding. The 'grain' had to stay missing as far as he was concerned.

A free hand tapped a keyboard. A message was sent. The mole would be watched, followed, intercepted if necessary. More, anyone and everyone he spoke to or touched tonight would also be tracked. After all, the watcher smiled tightly, there were a lot more good guys here than bad ones. As long as the bastard stayed on the watcher's home ground, he wasn't going to accomplish a thing.

By the time the mole had finished his work and left his office, a small army was mobilized against him. Things were working quickly to prevent him from accomplishing anything that evening. They would see to it that the message would not reach the people it was intended for.

Indeed, he wouldn't even reach his destination. Chance chose to favor the defenders again; the mole encountered a genuine accident on his way to the Officers Club. A foot thoughtlessly placed, a small pool of spilled grease, a fall. The mole would wake in the morning in the base infirmary with a nasty headache and unaware of the fact that the opposition had managed to spend almost seven hours with his touch-pad. What they learned from it would save many lives the mole would have been happy to see wasted. It was just unfortunate that it wouldn't be smart to waste him; at least not until he'd led them to more of the agents his side had planted in their organization.

* * *

Relena looked out at the approaching city with interest. She'd never been to the North American south before. They were passing one of the large parks on the edge of the city now, one that held a historic home preserved as a time capsule of another age. It was fascinating to see the historic archetype as a physical reality. She'd always thought the illustrations were more fantasy than history. How nice to be proven wrong for once.

"It's clean." Noin said quietly as she carefully began to pack away the tracer gear she'd been using to test their vehicle ever since they'd picked it up at the airport.

Relena jerked her attention back into the car. "Milliardo! Where are we going?"

"Call me Zechs." Her brother replied wearily. "Really, even you should be able to remember how dangerous it is to use my other name."

"Yes, I'm sorry." And she was, but that wasn't going to stop her questions. "Very well, where are we going Zechs?"

"To a Preventer safe-house on the far side of the city." He answered. "Noin and I have decided the safest way to travel now is to pretend we're a special operations team. You and Dorothy will be our partners, first time agents under the guidance of more seasoned operatives. That way, no one will be expecting you to be making the team's decisions or even acting much on your own."

"Ah!" Dorothy nodded briskly. "This gives us full access to all Preventer resources as well."

"Correct." Zechs smiled grimly. "Most importantly, it eliminates any questions if Une should get in touch with us directly. I think we may want to take the local 'ready' shuttle when we make our next move. Our enemies aren't likely to be looking for us inside the Preventer's mantle yet."

She considered the situation carefully. Her brother had this well thought-out but something was nagging at the back of her mind. It was something Noin had said all the way back in the train station in Sanq. The remark had told her the four of them weren't the only ones involved with this, well this escape for lack of a better word.

Noin reached over and turned on the car's radio, obviously intending to cut off all further discussion for a while. ". . . . . Winner representative has repeated the family statement from this morning. No new developments have been announced by either the family or the authorities in Riyadh. It is not possible to fly close enough to the damaged residence to get good pictures but what is available makes it clear the attackers came in through the southern wall of the compound and struck directly for the family's private wing. The extent of the damage is uncertain at this time but what can be made out indicates both the master suite and the offices of Quatre Raberba Winner have been completely destroyed. There has been no statement from the young Winner heir and he has not been seen since the attack."

"Quatre! Someone attacked Quatre?" Relena stared at the blank face of the car radio in shock.

"Turn it off." Zechs ordered sharply.

Noin complied wordlessly.

"Zechs," Dorothy asked dangerously, "what is going on?"

"Parties unknown attacked the Winner residence in Riyadh last night." He replied evenly. "Other teams attacked a salvage yard on L2 and a traveling circus entertaining on L4."

"Who is trying to kill the Gundam pilots?" Dorothy demanded angrily, putting the information together instantly.

"Were any of them hurt?" Relena cried.

Zechs shook his head angrily. "The same people chasing us are chasing them and there's no word of any of them being hurt. From what Une told us, they'd already gone several days ago."

"Why?" This didn't make sense to her; the Gundam boys feared nothing and ran from less. "They don't run away from anything."

"Of course they do." Noin replied irritably. "They aren't idiots Relena. They all understand the wisdom of retreating in the face of superior enemy forces. When the enemy is faceless and impossible to readily identify and you know you've been targeted, you run. They all have people they care about. They won't, can't, stay where those people would become targets as well."

"I, I suppose so." She said slowly. "I just, well it seems so wrong to think of Heero or the others running away."

"Why? It's what we're doing." Zechs pointed out coldly. "Yuy isn't stupid enough to stand against impossible odds without a reason to. He's fairly suicidal, or at least he used to be, but he never failed to analyze a situation before he'd do anything. And he never attempted one of his self-destructive moves unless he thought the situation demanded it. So, since he hasn't enough data to decide it's necessary yet, he's going to keep moving and out of sight until he can gather the information to make his tactical decisions. The rest are just as well trained – and just as pragmatic in this kind of situation."

She sat back and thought about that. Most specifically, she considered the information both Heero and J had sent her. She didn't trust J as far as she could throw the Residence but she knew Heero wouldn't lie to her or fail to give her the information he thought she needed to make informed decisions. Given that trust, what did she know?

Well, for one thing she knew the data was inadequate for much of any decision making. It hadn't surprised her that J's information had been so thin but he'd actually had a couple facts Heero hadn't. So she had to assume in this case J might actually know more that Heero did. My, that was a nasty idea! Unfortunately, it fit the few facts she did have.

She also knew her brother believed the danger was real and immediate. Milliardo hadn't come back from Mars, and brought Noin with him, on some kind of whim. He was far too hated here for his actions at the end of the Eve Wars. While she could see him taking such a risk for himself, he wouldn't have brought his wife if it weren't even more dangerous to leave her behind.

The other pilots had lives they were building. They were reaching for the promise peace held out for them; that they could just be people for once in their lives. Not weapons, not killers, not even heroes, just normal human beings. Yet all of them had left those lives to disappear when they became aware of this new situation. Quatre, Trowa, Wu Fei and Duo had taken Heero's word for the depth of the danger in spite of the lack of hard evidence he could present.

She shuddered. Why? Who wanted the horrors of war to come back now? Hadn't everyone suffered enough for one lifetime? What was so wrong with just wanting everyone to live in peace, without war or the threat of the weapons of war hanging over their heads? The Gundams were gone! Why were these miserable creatures hunting the pilots? They couldn't threaten them any longer!

"Why?" Relena muttered, unaware she spoke aloud.

"Why what?" Zechs asked.

She looked up, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror. "Why are they hunting Heero and the others? The Gundams are gone! The Wing Zero shattered at the end of the attack in Brussels. The Deathscythe, the Heavyarms, and Quatre's Sandrock were all destroyed by the boys themselves. Wu Fei blew up the Altron with his own hands! This makes no sense!"

"Of course it does!" Her brother gave her a glare. "You aren't thinking Relena. Yes, the Gundams were powerful and dangerous machines. But the real danger never was the machine; it was what the human at the controls could do with it. The Gundam pilots remain a deadly force, even without their machines, simply by virtue of their training and their willingness to do a dirty job so others aren't forced to. And I would think it obvious these new 'Crimson Dawn' people are quite aware that none of the pilots will support them, that they will, actually must, oppose them because of what they believe."

"But," she faltered, "they're not killers. Quatre is a kind and gentle soul. Trowa is a circus clown! He takes great joy in making others happy. Duo has renounced being anything but a salvage dealer. Wu Fei is a defender of the peace! They aren't hurting anyone!"

Noin turned sharply. "Don't be a fool! This isn't about what they're doing now and you're smart enough to know that. 'Crimson Dawn' is hunting the Gundam pilots because of the danger they present to their long range plans. Can you honestly imagine any of those boys accepting the world 'Crimson Dawn' wants to create?"

"Yuy wouldn't tolerate it." Zechs said quietly. "That isn't what he fought for, it isn't what he nearly destroyed himself to achieve. And even if the other four went along, however reluctantly, Yuy alone is too dangerous to ignore."

"Winner wouldn't accept it either." Dorothy said flatly.

"No," Relena agreed softly, letting go of the last of her wishes to acknowledge reality. "You are all right. None of them will stand back or allow everything they worked so hard to achieve be overturned like this."

"Mr. Merquise, where do we meet them?" Dorothy asked crisply.

"I don't know yet. And do not call me that. You are supposed to be a Preventer agent now. You call me Wind and you call Noin Fire. Neither of you should use any other names from now until we're safely off planet."

"Understood." Catalonia settled back firmly, eyes turning inward as she began to make plans for the disguise.

"What will you call us?" Relena asked.

"You will be Dancer." Her brother replied. "Dorothy will be Puppeteer. An agent's name is supposed to reflect something of their skills. However, just what that skill is or how it is to be used is not something the name should give away completely."

"Mine is too suggestive." Dorothy said.

"Perhaps. But it is also not in current use in the organization either. And that also matters. Because you can not use the names of real agents without having someone taking second looks at the situation. You already know we can't afford that."

"I see."

The computer stashed by Noin's feet suddenly beeped loudly enough to be heard through the padded carry case and over the small noises in the car. "Shit!"

Zechs was suddenly looking at the exits from the highway, comparing what he could see to the GPS unit in the car. He pulled them smoothly into the far right lane and they drifted easily off the highway minutes later. The area was clearly a major travel stop for just about anyone. There were a number of places to stay offering a range of quality and the assortment of dining spots was equally diverse. She counted eight places to buy fuel and could see three different shopping areas from the ramp as they pulled off. Relena shook her head quietly. The oversupply of just about everything here was so typical of what she'd seen in American cities. How did all these places offering nearly identical services manage to stay in business all tucked in next to each other?

Her brother parked them in the far outlot of the closest of the shopping areas before he grabbed the computer. Seeing no reason to stay ignorant, she leaned forward with Dorothy to try to see over Zech's shoulder. Noin was also leaning in from the passenger side.

To her immense disgust, it was coded. While that wasn't a surprise, it was irritating. She was getting more than a little tired of not knowing what was going on. She made sure to hiss at the screen, she didn't want her brother to cherish any delusions about how she was feeling right now.

"That's childish Relena." Zechs muttered as he slowly scrolled through the message.

"Ignorance is not bliss." She snapped back.

"No, not this time." He agreed absently. "Let me finish here. We'll go over it then."

She sat back in some surprise. He'd been unwilling to share anything until now unless she pried it out of him. What was in this message that broke that reserve.

"Chicago?" Noin said, puzzled.

"There's a large Winner shipping point there." Zechs murmured.

"Ah."

Relena glanced at Dorothy, who nodded grimly. So, they were going to Chicago and taking a Winner shuttle into space. Or at least that was what it sounded like.

"You caught that?" He asked them both, "the business about Chicago?"

"Is that where we're leaving from then?"

"Correct. We will be meeting another group and going on one shuttle. I can't imagine it will be anyone but the Gundam pilots we're supposed to go with but we will keep our eyes open anyway. It would be embarrassing to make a wrong assumption and miss a vital cue."

"What are we supposed to do about our disguises?" Dorothy asked. "Do we keep these?"

"No, we'll go to the safe house. I'll send a message to the Preventer office here and have them drop off uniforms for us. We'll keep the rest of the things we picked up in London and will add some that I think we can get time to find here. It appears we won't be going anywhere where the shopping will be convenient for a while. We will need to be fully set up at least with clothing. I would recommend making sure you have any other hygiene supplies you prefer stocked as well."

Relena eyed the largest of the three shopping areas. There were several name stores there. And, she looked across the parking area, yes, there was a fair sized second hand store here too.

"Is there some specific time we need to be at the safe house?" She asked.

"No but I wouldn't want to waste more than a couple hours before we do get there. Why?"

She pointed out the shopping possibilities immediately around them. Zechs gave them a thoughtful study, then nodded. New was nice but new was not always a good idea. He moved the car and all of them wandered into the resale shop.


	7. Chapter 7

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

More news, travel, and views across space-time.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Kira warily pushed the door to the new FAITH offices open. He hadn't been here yet even though they'd been assigned a couple days ago. Shiho and Commander Ito's wife had been redecorating the place. One of the more sure signs of wisdom in a man was to stay well away from women rearranging the furniture and putting out the knick-knacks. Not even Yzak had been brave – or stupid – enough to come until Shiho said it was ready.

"What do you think Kayla? The drum or the Kachina?" Shiho's voice carried thoughtfully from the office on the right.

"This is going to be Kira's space. He gets the Kachina. Charlie sent it up especially for him."

Kira very quietly closed the door and headed back down the hallway. They clearly weren't quite finished yet and he wasn't going to let them know he was anywhere around until they were. He spotted Yzak stalking up the hall and went to intercept him.

"Where are you going Yamato?" Joule was clearly in one of his 'moods'. "We have work to do and the office is in the other direction."

"Yes, it is." Kira agreed brightly. "But so are Shiho Hahnenfuss and Kayla Ito. They haven't quite finished moving the furniture. So, what do you think of some coffee down in the cafeteria? We can discuss the non-secure stuff there."

Displaying the intelligence he'd been chosen for, Yzak made a smart turn and fell in beside his Second as they headed for the elevator. He didn't even bother to question the need to be somewhere else. He did hand over about half a briefcase worth of paper to Kira on the way down though. So he was serious about getting some work done. Kira didn't mind. He was ready to start tackling the job anyway.

They took over a fairly generous corner table and Yzak glared everyone else in the room into staying at least three tables away from them. The wait-staff, Yamato had picked the officer's cafeteria after all, did venture close enough to get their orders before they scurried away. Once the coffee and pastries had been delivered though, they vanished. Kira was using a jelly doughnut to hold down one corner of a blueprint and Yzak's empty coffee cup to pin down another when someone considerably braver than the waiter slid into the empty seat beside him.

"Let me guess, you two are here because the girls are still fiddling with things in the new office, right?"

"Ito, you can take your wife home to those kids of yours anytime now." Yzak growled. "I want to use my own desk, not a cafeteria table, to get my work done."

The tall, amber eyed man just grinned. "What, you think I'm suicidal? I'm not going up there until they're done Joule. Not when they've got a whole box of things Charlie sent up to spot around your spaces."

"Who's Charlie?" Yzak grumped.

"Oh, you remember the very old Native American shaman who came to our wedding up here in the Plants? The one who got pollen dust all over the insides of every mobile suit in the Thoms Team when he blessed them? That Charlie."

Yzak stared, horrified. "What kinds of things did he send?"

Adrian Ito suddenly sobered. "Spirit Wards. He must have decided he likes you Yzak because I gather this is the first time any First Nations shaman has sent up a full set of Spirit Wards for any space in the Plants other than my house. And I think I have them only because he's afraid the kids'll get into trouble if he didn't ward the place. I have one ward for my office, one for Commander Thom's office and one for Yuri's and that's it outside of this set you are now getting."

"What are Spirit Wards?" Kira asked before Yzak could decide to say something nasty.

"Honestly, I don't know. I do know they are supposed to allow the Native American spirits to come and watch over and protect a place. But I have no idea how they are supposed to do this. I do know that they have to be pretty precisely placed to be their most effective so no matter what the office looks like, if you think it may have come from Colorado, don't move it. Kayla will not be nice to you if you do and I suspect she'll have Shiho's help."

"Spirits. To watch over me?" Yzak just shook his head. "Wonderful. Do I have to symbolically feed them or something?"

"I don't think so. Not that they'd be unhappy if you did mind you but I don't think it's necessary."

Kira cocked his head at his friend. "Adrian, you sound like you actually believe in these 'spirits'."

The slightly older Coordinator stole a chocolate laden pastry off the tray and nibbled thoughtfully on it before he replied. "I do. I have no rational explanation for it either. But unless I'm prone to some highly improbable hallucinations, which I seriously doubt, I believe I've seen and talked to some of them. Fortunately, they pretty much leave me alone now that the war is over again. But they sure spent a lot of time and energy giving me orders while the shooting lasted. I gather I'm supposed to support someone sometime in the future and I needed to live through the war in order to be available to do this. They don't tend to be real forthcoming with their information until the very last second so I'm still not sure."

Both of them stared at Ito. He believed in some kind of native spirits? And he was a Team Commander in the ZAFT?

"Oh," was the best Kira could come up with. "Well, I'm glad they aren't interested in me then."

Ito smiled tightly. "Oh but they are Kira. You are one of Thunderbird's Children. Athrun is the other. Oh, yeah, you have a Spirit guiding you around all right. One I'm very happy to have ignoring me by the way! There is a scary amount of power in the Thunderbird. I'm told the reason you've survived some of the less likely events you have is because that one was protecting you. And having met it, I can believe it has the power to do everything Charlie says it has for you."

He looked over at Yzak and give him a very non-reassuring grin too. "And before you decide to hassle Kira, you should know you do have a Guardian. One very suited to your personality too. Wolverine is just about as short tempered and vicious as you are at your worst. And he values his friends and defends them with the same single-minded focus you use as well. So if you should happen to someday hallucinate an unidentified animal with a pair of broad stripes down his back, a bushy tail, beady eyes and sharp teeth that stands shoulder tall on you, hey, at least you know who he is now. If he should talk to you, you might just want to pay attention. The Spirits don't offer useless advice."

"Who follows you around?" Yzak snapped.

"Golden Eagle." Ito replied immediately. "He's taller than I am and he's got a warped sense of humor. You wouldn't get along at all."

"Who wouldn't get along?"

They all looked up. Kayla Ito stood beside her husband's chair, given them all a rather hairy eyeball look that said she'd heard at least some of the discussion and wasn't happy about it. A hairy eyeball that sharp an emerald green was strong enough to cut too.

"Golden Eagle and Yzak." Adrian told her.

"Why would Golden Eagle even bother to try to talk to him?" She wanted to know. "He's so completely not Eagle's type."

"I know. But he wanted to know who 'followed me around'."

"Told him about Wolverine, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Was that Eagle's idea or one of your bright moves?"

"No, Eagle thought he should know."

"Right." She studied Yzak thoughtfully. "So, I guess then I just give you this and let you make up your own mind about it."

She pulled a modest jewelry style box out of a pocket and put it carefully down in front of him. "This is yours. It's your Spirit Talisman. Why Charlie sent you one is beyond me since you haven't ever done your Journey but hey, I don't tell ranking shaman how to do their jobs. You're supposed to wear it twenty-four seven so it can protect you. What you do elect to do with it is your business but throwing it away would be real stupid. Just so you know that."

She turned to her husband. "That office is done and I wanna go home. The triplets will be wanting dinner before long. You stuck to that chair or can you leave now?"

"No, no, I can go any time you're ready." Adrian stood up with a warm smile and kissed her on the cheek. "They have work to do, let's leave them to it."

He suited action to words and whisked her away before Yzak could think of anything intelligent to say. Kira waved as they left. He turned back to his companion and waited to see what he'd come up with.

"He's joking." Joule said flatly. "He has to be."

Kira didn't say anything but his eyes told Yzak he didn't agree. "Why don't you open it and at least look at it."

"Don't tell me you believe in this idiocy!"

"Uhm, I've never been able to make up my mind on it." Kira told him seriously. "On the one hand it's flat out ridiculous. On the other, well, there have been some things that really shouldn't have worked out the way they did. So I just wear the one Charlie gave me at the wedding and try to ignore the whole thing."

"And that's your advice?"

"Yeah, it is. After all, you honestly don't ever have to tell anyone up here about it now do you?" Kira shrugged. "They tend to be rather attractive pieces of jewelry and you can just pass it off as a piece you're fond of."

Yzak eyed the box doubtfully but dutifully opened it. The Spirit Talisman turned out to be some kind of small but rather wicked looking tooth set in sliver and surrounded with small, double-pointed coral stones. Kira thought it a rather handsome piece and said so. It was strung on a fairly heavy silver chain. After staring at it for a good five minutes, Yzak just put it on and tucked it into his tunic. Neither one of them mentioned it again.

* * *

Lacus sighed wearily. It had been a long day, a very long day. But any day that involved the peace negotiations tended to be overlong and not terribly productive lately. And this latest bee in the Alliance Foreign Minister's bonnet was not helping matters at all.

Honestly, she could understand why he'd want the L-4 colonies back. They'd all been built by various Alliance interests after all. But his approach was so completely undiplomatic that half the Council was up in arms over it. And it wasn't just the more radical of them either. No, anyone who could get Yuri Amarfi that upset had been _working_ at it.

He and Tad Elsman had only recently been reelected to the Council after stepping down while Gilbert Dullindal was Chairman. They were still moderates but if that fool Pearson didn't shut up they'd soon be turned into radicals. At least she'd been able to force them all to table the topic for a while.

She really hadn't wanted to have to do that. It would have been better to just hash it out and make a decision. But feelings were running too high due to the Foreign Minister's ill-chosen words. All she could do was shake her head unhappily. This was going to be a persistent thorn until they could address it.

Lacus wasn't happy with the man's demand for a fly-by to collect current data on the individual colonies either. She'd been in there with the _Eternal_. It was no place to be taking a capital ship. Too many of those places were falling apart now. The heavy cables that had once helped tie the colony sections together were coming loose and drifting. Those were dangerous enough. But the ones that were still attached to a colony at one end were strong enough to tear a ship apart if it snarled in them and didn't detect what was happening in time to cut their engines.

There was a quiet knock at the office door before Kira leaned in. "Lacus? Aren't you done yet?"

"Hello Kira, no, I'm just finishing now."

He came in and perched himself on the corner of her desk. "You look tired love."

"I am. It's been quite the day." She sighed, it wasn't anything she could discuss with him yet. "How did yours go?"

Kira grinned at her, brightening her evening just by being there. He had her laughing in short order as he told her the story of the gift of Spirit Wards and the talisman necklace. She found some of Yzak's stiff-necked attitude grating and it was always good when someone did something that forced him to reappraise his world view. He almost always lightened up a bit after one of those sessions. Perhaps having one of these 'spirit guides' would help with that too.

She wondered if she should check with Kayla Ito about getting one for herself. She wasn't too proud to admit friendly advice would be welcome at times. Mind, she wasn't at all sure about talking to some half-visible creature several times larger than the real creature it represented could ever be. That would take quite the suspension of disbelief before she could do something like that.

"I wanted to ask you, do you mind if I go over to Armory One and poke around that warehouse?"

"What?" She suddenly realized Kira had gone on to a completely different topic. "I'm sorry, I was following a thought. What did you want?"

"I want your formal permission to go over to Armory One and poke around that warehouse, the one the n-jammer cancellers were stolen from. I can't get past the feeling that we're missing something there. I'd like to do my own examination of the site." He repeated his request patiently.

"Kira, you're FAITH. You can go whenever you want to."

"I know. But it'll sooth the bruised egos if you send me. That way I'm not imposing myself on their investigation. I'm working under the orders of the Supreme Council. That's easier to accept than some nosey, jumped up kid."

She considered it. Truth was, that investigation hadn't been going anywhere. The box they'd recovered contained slag so completely melted they hadn't been able to do more than isolate the elements that made it up. Unfortunately, just knowing the elemental makeup of a device didn't tell you a thing about how it had been built or worked. The only intact item they had was the box itself and the material it was made of had defied analysis so far.

A vision of that hanger and its mobile suits swam unbidden to the front of her mind. Those people had taken the cancellers for a reason. Really, just making that crossing had been a terrible risk. Something had driven a man who looked almost elderly to her to step across this unimaginable gulf to take something. What kind of desperation had driven him to do that? And where were the pilots for those suits? Surely one of them, younger, stronger, faster, would have been a better choice to send as a thief?

Lacus shook her head slowly. "We aren't making any discoveries. I've spoken several times with Dean Koudelka but she hasn't had any new insights to offer either. I did give her your thoughts from the meeting the other day and she has had them input into some kind of activity analysis program she's designed for this incident. She should have results in a day or so. But she also warned me that she'd set it up with an underlying assumption that they were at least somewhat like us in more than just looks. She said that was a dangerous assumption to make but it was the only one she could take if she was going to get any analysis done in less than a year."

"I don't think it's all that dangerous myself." Kira told her rather grimly. "Like I said the other day, they have military grade mobile suits. That alone tells us they have some serious points of similarity right there. They stole n-jammer cancellers. You only need those to protect a nuclear energy source. So they have that capability and their suits almost certainly have reactors for their power sources. No, I think her assumptions will probably be pretty valid and we'll prove it when we meet them."

She stared at him. "Meet them? When, where?"

"No idea yet. But I can't shake a feeling that I will meet those suits. I'm not positive it'll be in a fight but I'm absolutely sure I'll get to see them someday."

With a sinking heart, Lacus realized some part of her agreed with him. She didn't know if she could trust this feeling or not. She did know he was correct in wanting to go and make his own check on the situation. So she cut him a set of orders he could use any time in the next three days that would give him full access to the warehouse and everything relating to the incident.

She wondered if Yzak would want to go too. When Kira said he wasn't sure but would ask him, she altered the wording of her order so he would be approved if he decided to go. After all, Yzak might be opinionated on many topics but that didn't make him blind. And two sets of keen eyes would be better than just one. Once he had his orders in hand, she let him escort her back to her official residence and take his place in the small sleeping room just off her outer office. She felt safer again, now that Kira was back on guard.

* * *

The safe-house door smashed open with a terrific bang. Heero snapped around, gun coming up on automatic pilot. He was peripherally aware of Trowa and Wu Fei doing the same thing. But it was no enemy that came staggering through the opened portal.

Duo stumbled into the room, several large bags in his hands and hanging from his arms, his face white as a ghost. Quatre was right behind him, his color just as bad and his arms just as full. They were moving with the mechanical precision only ruthless training could impose over their shock. Both wavered as far as the treated sheet and their loads slithered out of their hands to tumble gently onto the bug-protected surface. It wasn't until they'd dropped the supplies that the two of them turned to their startled companions.

"'Ro," Duo's eyes were huge and his voice barely there. "'Ro, they blew up my house."

Heero blinked. Whatever he'd thought might have caused this reaction, it hadn't been this! Wait, blew up Duo's house?

"Duo, what happened?" Wu Fei asked sharply, eyes probing the hallway past the opened door, watching for an enemy pursuit he was sure had to be there.

"Some _bastard_ blew up my house!" Duo screamed. "They blew up my whole yard! There's nothing left but a hole in the colony floor!"

Heero straightened from the crouch he'd dropped into when the door had slammed open. "So, that's what J meant."

"What?" Trowa's eyes jumped between him and Quatre's blanched face.

"That note about getting our bad news off the regular feeds." Heero explained.

"There was an attack on my home in Riyadh too." Quatre whispered. "I, the pictures weren't good, so much damage, the family isn't saying anything."

The blond looked up, "Oh, Trowa, I'm so sorry! They were your friends!"

Heero put his gun back in the holster at the small of his back and went to close the door. The news was obviously going to be bad; they didn't need to have some local drifter or bum hear them right now. He quietly closed the heavily soundproofed door and went to stand beside a badly shaking Duo. Trowa was holding Quatre, who was crying on his shoulder. He shot a quick look at Wu Fei, who nodded and whipped back into the den to get a news report on the computer.

Duo looked over at him as he stepped up beside him. Heero went very still. Because it wasn't his friend who looked out at him from those cobalt and violet eyes. He hadn't seen Shinigami since the Libra battle. But there was no mistaking who was in charge of Duo's body at this moment.

Rage, stellar hot and space cold at the same time glared out at him. But he wasn't the target, it slid past him. The trouble was, the target wasn't here to kill. And Shinigami _needed_ to kill someone right now. Whatever had happened, it had awakened a part of Duo Maxwell that was capable of truly terrible things. And it didn't look like the rest of Duo was at all interested in holding it back.

"They blew up the house." Duo said hoarsely. "Shaped charges, 'Ro. Set to fire in and down. Nobody even tried to see if there were any innocents there. Just planted 'em 'round the outside and set 'em off. Nothing left but a smokin' hole. Motherfuckin' cocksuckers!"

"Hilde?" Heero asked quietly.

Duo shook his head savagely. "Not there. Told her 'n Howard to fade before I ever left the colony. She mighta been stubborn enough to try to stick it but he wasn't and he wouldn'ta let her stay either. Checked in when I hit London, they'd both already left me messages saying they were outta there. No, there was just stuff, the people were gone."

Heero let his hand rest on Duo's shoulder. Just stuff he'd said. But Heero knew what that 'stuff' represented to the one-time orphan street rat and Gundam pilot. It was his symbols of normalcy; his claim to being a real human being those bastards had just destroyed.

One more time someone with power and the arrogance to think they had the right to make the choices had told Duo what he was worth in their eyes. One more round of building, creating, and losing to some other sonofabitch's greed. One more reason to think of himself as the 'God of Death'; a creature who inevitably destroyed whatever and whoever he cared about. Heero Yuy was disinclined to forgive them for doing that to Duo.

Maxwell was panting slightly, from stress, rage, shock or a combination of the whole. Besides Shinigami's wrath, there was a lost look in those eyes again. It was something he hadn't seen since the night after he'd detonated Deathscythe to help promote the peace Relena was beginning to spread. The business meant almost as much to him as his lost Gundam had. And now it was in even smaller pieces.

"Muhamed?" Trowa's cry held a terrible blend of denial and loss. "Fatima? Yusef and Ali? Dead?"

Heero turned instantly to Duo. He wasn't going to even consider interrupting Trowa and Quatre; not while Trowa had a look like that on his face. Maxwell's eyes were suddenly very old.

"The guys who blew up my place had friends." He said leadenly. "Bunch of 'em dropped by Trowa's circus. They sabotaged the rigging for the high wire act Trowa used to headline. It came apart at the worst possible time, dumped the four of them close to fifty feet straight down. They might have made it if they weren't performing in a stadium with a concrete floor and showing off without a net. Shits didn't even bother to find out if Trowa was still there. Put some sixteen members of the audience into the hospital when the wrecked rigging got thrown around and hurt 'bout half dozen other performers too. Catherine wasn't among them, only good thing to be said about it."

He nodded grimly. "What about Quatre? He said something about an attack on his home too."

Duo's head bobbed heavily. "Yeah. Fairly large scale commando raid on the main house in Riyadh. Looks like they tore the hell outta his rooms and his office. Musta been a hellva firefight and they weren't totin' peashooters either. 'Course, neither do the Maganacs. The pictures the news had weren't real good but it looks like they shot the shit outta each other. Family's gonna hafta rebuild the whole south wing."

"All of which means they know who we are now." Heero let his voice rise enough to reach them all.

"Correct." Wu Fei snapped as he glared from the den's doorway. "J and Une must have set up communications because in among the things we hadn't gotten to was a message from her. Someone broke into my office desk two days ago. The only thing missing is my copy of the signed picture of the five of us and our Gundams."

"That's bad." Quatre said quietly. "And it says some very unpleasant things about the quality of the enemy that he could put together three simultaneous raids in under forty-eight hours on two different colonies and the Earth. 'Crimson Dawn' is a lot better set up than I thought it could be."

"Ya know, I may run and I may hide but right now I'm gettin' real disgusted that I have to." Duo snarled. "I wanna bust these bastards like cheap beer bottles."

"The problem with breaking all those bottles is the amount of loose glass it leaves behind." Heero said with an oddly deadly quietness. "I don't want any glass left. I see no reason to risk getting cut."

He caught their eyes one at a time. And they were agreed. None of them saw any particular reason to allow these creatures, animals, _'things'_, to survive. Heero could feel his heart tearing. He'd promised Relena never to kill again. But he didn't think he was going to be able to keep that promise; not the one to her or the identical one to himself.

Bitterness threatened to swamp his mind at the realization. He was going to have to return to the Perfect Soldier. He wanted to scream. He'd been _adjusting_! He'd been able to live without weapons, without death, without new blood on his hands! He'd been . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It didn't matter what he'd been. All that was going to count from now on was what he would be. The hell of it was, he wasn't going to be the one deciding who that was going to be. Heero already knew that. The training of his early teens was already kicking back in. It had sent him into Sanq five days ago when they'd stopped near the border at their fifth safe-house. He'd retrieved his gun and three gundanium boxes of ammunition then. The boxes had hidden their deadly contents from airport security scanners as they'd traveled. He wondered savagely if he hadn't known then how this was going to go.

"Before we go on, I have more news." Wu Fei said clearly.

They turned, wondering what else was going wrong. "Relena has gone missing."

"WHAT?!" Heero shouted.

Wu Fei stared at him darkly. "Relena is missing. Voluntarily it seems. Her man Pagan reported an attack at the Residence, about ten hours before the other three. Given the way he worded it, I would say the target was someone else but he's making it look like it was Relena. He's telling everyone it was thwarted by a pair of visiting Preventer agents. The implication is she's gone into a high security retreat in the face of the threat."

The Chinese pilot turned to Quatre. "What is a 'Clydesdale' and why would we want to find one in Chicago?"

The blond Arab blinked, his mind quite obviously not on whatever a 'Clydesdale' was. It took him several seconds before he had a coherent answer.

"Ah, it's a shuttle. Well, a class of shuttles really. They were named after various breeds of draft horses, the size and power of the individual class supposedly corresponding with the relative capabilities of the horse. They haven't build any of the Draft Horse series for over fifty years and the 'Clydesdale' hasn't been built for almost seventy. But they're very sturdy machines and that's part of why they stopped building them. They just lasted too long. The 'Clydesdale' was one of the largest in the series. If you stacked them like logs, you could load six Gundams in one. Winner Enterprises owns at least twenty-seven of them. They're capable of lifting huge loads and were one of the major means of bringing building materials to the sites where they build most of the colonies."

He paused thoughtfully. "And yes, there are three of them kept at our shipping facility at O'Hare Space Port, just outside Chicago. I wonder why J wants a 'Clydesdale'. Capacity aside, they are horrible fuel hogs."

"How fast are they?" Heero asked.

"Oh, not very." Quatre replied, then stopped. "Well, not very with a full load that is. I have no idea how fast one would be empty. They drink so much fuel, it never seems to have occurred to anyone to try racing one. But I would imagine they would be fairly respectable empty. The engines are terrifically powerful, they had to be to move the loads they were built to haul. So if they're running lightly loaded, I'd have to guess they could probably match an 'Emery Five' for speed. Why did you want to know Heero?"

"If we're supposed to travel in one, it never hurts to have an idea about the speed. It doesn't sound like they're capable of outrunning much trouble though."

"No," Trowa agreed wearily, "you aren't going to be making a high speed escape in a 'Clydesdale'."

"Maybe not." Duo agreed, "but the damn things are huge, almost impossible to break, and they're faster than you'd credit them being just by lookin' at one. I've flown a 'Clyde'. They're dead stable in the atmosphere due to their size and some of 'em are fitted out to take passengers. It was sorta fashionable about forty years or so ago to tour the colonies on a 'working' ship. And honest, they can call 'em shuttles if they want to but they're really freighters."

"I gather we're supposed to go to Chicago and take one of Quatre's 'Clydesdale's from there?" Duo asked as he turned to Chang.

"Yes." Wu Fei replied. "And we're supposed to meet another group and make sure they get off with us."

"Who?" Heero asked instantly.

"J didn't say. But he did note that we'd recognize them all."

"Relena." Quatre said flatly. "She can't stay here any more than we can."

"Makes sense." Trowa agreed quietly.

"Then let's get the new supplies sorted and packed. I think the sooner we reach Chicago the better." Heero told them.

Quatre nodded. "Duo and I picked up an older but very decent converted van from a lot holding some kind of huge sale. There were people everywhere and vehicles moving all over the place. Really, it was a perfect invitation to a thief and I don't think we were the only ones there. It'll be missed eventually but if we're lucky, not until someone takes inventory and matches sales sheets with a record of what's left on the lot. And they may go looking for it among the ones the locals were taking too. It's set up for passengers and has a bed if anyone needs it. It would be tight quarters for all of us but we thought maybe not staying in a safe house would be a good idea tonight. That was before we saw the newscast at the mall. I don't think we'll be sleeping in it any more."

Wu Fei shrugged. "Doesn't matter unless they notice before we can get it to the parking lots at O'Hare. I've flown through the place; the Preventers have their own small terminal there. The public terminals are huge, the parking areas are extensive and generally pretty full. One more stolen vehicle abandoned there won't set off all that many alarms with the Chicago police. We just need to be a little careful about how much forensic evidence we may leave in it."

"Yeah, Kat already thought about that." Duo growled. "There's one of those mini vacuums in one of the bags. We can clean it out when we leave. If we take the vacuum bag and dump it in a bin about to be emptied, hey, not much chance they'll ever find it."

"Ah, yes, and we managed to stop at five of the eight bank machines you preset for us Heero." Quatre added. "You don't do this theft business by half do you? I had no idea anyone could get that much out of a cash machine. Unfortunately, it's in American twenties so the pile is rather generous. It won't be so easy to hide."

"Five of eight?" Heero asked. "Then you should have picked up around twenty-five thousand. Divide it evenly among us and it won't be that hard to conceal. It also will allow us to make our own purchases, less likely to attract attention than if one is buying for all."

"True, but I don't think we'll need to be buying much more." Quatre said quietly. "Not if we're supposed to go and pick up a 'Clyde'. Even more because we're supposed to meet these others, who are probably Relena and company. I think we're on our way out to space now."

Heero just shrugged. "Maybe not but it still makes sense to make sure everyone has their own money. If nothing else, it won't look so odd if we're stopped by security at some point."

"Yeah," Duo said darkly, "and it might let any one of us buy our way out of trouble too without any of the others stepping in. We want to avoid making it clear we're a team."

"Yes," Trowa whispered. "We do not want to be spotted now. We have to live long enough to settle with these butchers."

Heero gave the tall acrobat a long, sidewise look. He didn't like the tone in his friend's voice. It was oddly deadly, quite unlike from his normal manner, different even from his attitude during the war. But Trowa hadn't allowed himself to have friends back then. He'd been reserved even with the rest of them. Still, even back then, once the Silencer allowed himself to reach out to others, he'd begun to exhibit a protective streak. Now someone had killed four of those hard-won friends. No, this new side to Trowa wasn't anything they were familiar with. But Heero had a rather uncomfortable feeling that they would be learning a lot about each other that hadn't been there during the war.

"Let's pack," Quatre suggested again. "I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. We need to disappear so completely they leave our friends and families alone."

"Face it Quat," Duo, no _Shinigami_, snarled. "Our friends and families are likely to be grabbed as hostages. That's how these bastards work. And we will probably lose some of them too. Because that's the rest of how they work. So before we pack, we'd better decide if we're really going or not. If we can't accept that they're gonna slaughter those who matter to us to force us out of hiding, then we'd better not go into it in the first place."

Heero turned to the tumbled bags of clothing and other supplies. "I'm going. I can afford to. The only people they could use against me are you four and Relena. And if I have to chose, I will protect her first. Because each of you can defend yourselves if you have to. She can't."

Duo nodded, "Makes sense. Me, I'm coming with you. I can't help Hilde or Howard or any of the rest of my friends if I'm dead. And they'll make real sure I am if I surrender to them."

"You are my friends." Wu Fei said simply. "I, like Duo, can't help anyone if I'm dead. So I must live at least long enough to destroy Crimson Dawn."

"We don't have any assurance they wouldn't eliminate our families and friends even if they took us. You've read what Heero and J sent. Those bastards have every intention of 'pruning the unhealthy branches'. They sure seem to think we need to be pruned. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they extended the concept of contamination to everyone we care about." Trowa said tonelessly as he stepped toward the treated sheet and the tumbled bags there.

"Duo," Quatre said softly, his voice shaking very slightly where it escaped his steely control, "you know what's mine in there. Please exchange the new for the outfits I told you I wanted to dump. And make sure everyone packs what they're keeping in one of the new bags, all right? I need to make a phone call. Rashid will have to have that 'Clyde' ready when we get there. I expect the call to be picked up and perhaps traced but it will bounce through enough servers to allow us some small amount of time to get away. And yes, I'm coming with you all. Trowa's right, we can't trust them to leave our people alone even after we're dead. To stay is to die, and the dead protect no one."

"New bags?" Heero asked.

"Q-bean's idea." Duo replied as he began to carefully dump the contents of the large shopping bags onto the sheet. "The one's we've been using are getting a bit worn and are a little too individualized. If these pricks are as well organized as they seem to be, they could have eyes in a lot of public transit places. They know there are five of us. Five traveling together with identifiable luggage will get their attention now. So we pitch the old stuff and start using new today. 'Specially since we aren't going to be hanging around airports and the like from now on. They'll never get the chance to spot the new stuff as ours."

"I see." Heero helped him sort out what was supposed to go to who, although he and Trowa were the only ones to divvy up the new makeups and other disguise elements. He approved of the quality of the clothing the two of them had selected and the styles they'd gotten for him. He noted there was a reasonable amount of purely masculine gear on his pile now. He caught a sidelong glance from Duo and knew who'd picked out his new clothing. He almost laughed when he found a tightly packed plastic bag with a set of black spandex biker shorts and a green tank top neatly folded inside. Someone had let his mind run in a very old rut indeed!

It was the rich burgundy skirt that caught his eye next. It was sitting in the neat stack Duo was carefully packing, a matching top of some sort with it. Heero grinned, a very small one but a very real one. Someone had listened to his last order. And someone else, because he was dead sure Duo would never have bought it, had picked up the hair remover he'd requested. He pulled it out of his smaller pack and bounced it in one hand. They needed something amusing right now and he thought this just might do it.

"Maxwell!" Heero ordered crisply. "Use this. Change. It's too dangerous to go back out in the same outfit you were wearing when you stole the van. Someone might remember a pair of girls as attractive as you and Quatre."

He tossed the hair remover into Duo's lap. The American looked at like it was a live scorpion. He pushed it off onto the sheet with one careful fingernail.

"Uh, no way! I like me just like I am!"

Heero looked up at Trowa and Wu Fei. They both returned small nods. Heero turned a very small and very evil grin on the suddenly nervous Maxwell.

"I said forget it 'Ro!"

"Oh, I think it's a very sound idea." Trowa said evenly, having moved with his usual silence to a position on Maxwell's right.

"I will not permit your squeamishness to endanger our mission." Wu Fei told him portentously as he moved in on Duo's left.

It was a hopeless move but a predictable one. Duo made a sudden dive to evade the other two. It was a significant error. He neglected to consider, or simply overlooked under the more immediate threats, just how close Heero had moved. The Japanese pilot had him pinned to the floor almost instantly.

The other two grabbed his legs. Heero got a grip on his wrists. The three of them picked up their madly squirming friend and hauled him off to the questionable facilities of the kitchen. Trowa managed to snag the needed bottle off the sheet as they went.

There was much cursing, kicking, and howling. But three against one, especially when the one wasn't willing to kill anyone to get away, was pretty much of a foregone conclusion. And he really did look outright delicious in the burgundy skirt, vest and a lace decorated white blouse. Quatre, who didn't get back from his call until it was all over but the dressing up, managed not to laugh in his face.

Heero Yuy was satisfied with the results. No one had forgotten anything, especially their anger or their grief. But they had loosened up again. They would be able to move in public without giving off whatever it was that so often caused other people to recognize when someone else was truly and deeply upset and trying to hide it.

Besides, Maxwell honestly came off as drop-dead beautiful in that outfit; although the scowl kind of spoiled the whole effect.

Thirty-two minutes later they were packed and on the road. They tossed Quatre's now dangerously traceable cell phone into the first creek they crossed. Their discarded clothing found its way into a charity drop-box outside Kenosha. The suitcases and duffels they'd been using found their way into a similar box in Lake Forest. Now they had ditched all the _items_ that would be recognizable to anyone who might have been tracking them. Heero could only hope the changes in clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, and in Quatre's case, apparent gender, would be enough to get them past the unidentified eyes one last time.

When they parked in the multistory garage reserved for long term parking, they paused only long enough to do a fast but careful vacuum of the van and to wipe down all the surfaces they could remember touching that could possibly hold a print. The small bag from the vacuum found its way into a trash bin just moments before the maintenance crew pulled the trash liner and replaced it with an empty. Two hours eleven minutes after they'd slipped out of the safe-house, they stepped into the nine story vastness of Chicago O'Hare's brand new central terminal.


	8. Chapter 8

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

All right. This is chapter 8 and the last part of the story that is written and beta'd. It'll be a while before there is any more. Please be patient. As I said before, it took me from October to March to get this done. The next section may not be this long but it will not be a single chapter either.

Everyone comes together.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

The house was burning furiously when Sally's car broke out of the trees. She ignored the bodies sprawled in their graceless shapes of death across the open ground of the neat lawn. Hers or theirs, she had no time for them. She was perhaps five minutes ahead of the police and the fire department. She had to get what she'd come for and go as quickly as she could. Anne Une had not been able to buy her much time.

Colonel Po whipped the wheel, steering the surprisingly low slung 4X4 'Rock Hound' she was driving around the dead in the drive to reach the shed. The fire hadn't touched it yet but that wouldn't last. As soon as the supports holding up the blazing roof of the back porch gave, the entire burning mass would roll onto this small structure.

Someone was watching for the shed door opened just as she pulled up. Sally made a quick identification, then popped the lock on the back door. Sergeant Rus jerked the door open and tossed the girl inside. He followed that by throwing a couple small bags into the storage area behind the seats before he scrambled in himself.

"I'm damn glad to see you Colonel!" Rus panted.

"Are you two it?" Sally snapped.

"Yeah," Rus snarled. "Bastards hit us just before dinner. We lost the outer perimeter guys before we even knew they were there. Kojin managed to get off an alarm but that was it. They were in the front yard before we could begin to get ready. Whoever these bastards are, Colonel, they're good! They had most of the third squad down in seconds and they weren't leaving any witnesses either. Second squad had enough warning to stop the guys coming up from the back but it was hopeless from the word go. There were only eighteen of us left by then and at least fifty of them. Don't know how we got 'em all."

"The Kramers?" Sally asked.

The Sergeant shook his head angrily. "Dead. Hooper managed to cut the attackers down to size before they got him but two of them got into the house anyway. Four grenades down the stairs killed everyone in the basement. I shot the pair of them but it was 'way too late by then. The entire mission would have been a complete failure if I hadn't gone back up to grab some things for the kid. As it was, we're the only ones who got out. And we didn't make it until the last four of 'em fired the front rooms and got cocky enough to come around the house in a group."

He grinned viciously. "Made a nice target that way!"

Sally nodded sharply. The loss of her team pissed her off royally. They were good men, reliable men, and yet the Crimson Dawn attackers had still come in unnoticed. This told her a couple things that made her very unhappy. It also made it imperative that they find and eliminate the traitors within the Preventer ranks. Because only someone with the correct codes could have deactivated the perimeter security net that the guard team had relied on. And only a very well placed traitor could have given them _this_ unit's codes.

A tiny sob turned her attention to the reason for all this blood and fire. Mariemaia Khushrenada-Une was huddled in the seat beside Rus. She was looking shell-shocked and there was an unmistakable splash of blood on her pale skirt. She'd gotten too close to the action at some point.

Po just shook her head. She had no time to help the girl yet. They had to get out of here first. She could hear the sirens wailing in the distance now and they were getting clearer by the second.

"Sergeant, to the best of your knowledge, is the back way still open?"

"It was when I ran my scout this afternoon Colonel. Now," the man shrugged unhappily, "no idea."

Sally was reminded all over again why she hadn't been enthused when Une had come up with this idea of a place to hide the girl in the first place. Arnie Kramer had been one of the soldiers on Treize's staff. The man had been loyal to Khushrenada to the point of foolishness. He would take and keep Mariemaia safe all right but his home was not a good hideout. There were only two ways in for ground vehicles and the back way was in worse than bad shape, limiting anyone who didn't have a _very_ durable 4X4 to the front drive.

Worse, it was set in this stupid pine forest where visibilities and lines of sight were rarely longer than ten meters. She wasn't surprised the enemy had managed to get close before detection; she'd expected that. She hadn't expected them to be gifted with the codes to shut down the perimeter detects though. Still, even without that advantage Sally had long ago decided the house was only marginally defensible. She'd have needed to station a full company here to even pretend to assure that, not the thirty four men she'd had available. She sighed and threw her specially fitted 'Rock Hound' into gear and headed for the twin ruts that marked the back way out.

As she pulled away, the porch supports finally gave. Fire spilled across the shed and the drive she'd just left. Well that would clean up any evidence the girl and Rus had survived! The old shed was engulfed in flame only seconds after the burning mass struck it. Sally focused on driving as she pulled a set of night goggles down over her eyes. This was not a place to be using headlights. The three of them lurched and bumped their way away from the death and ruin behind them as the first flashing lights of the rescue vehicles began to shine between the trees. They slipped into the trees on the far side of the yard only moments before the police broke out of the trees to the front. Anne Une had bought them just enough time.

* * *

"Your Excellency," The Sun looked up as his aide unexpectedly broke into his thoughts.

The man couldn't see the frown behind the Solar mask but he clearly knew it was there as he bowed deeply before continuing. "Forgive me the intrusion my Lord, but we have report of the team sent to deal with the child."

He had report of the team. The Sun took careful notice of the choice of words there. Not word from the team but of the team. His lips thinned as he snarled silently. Those words told him the basic message all in themselves. They'd failed. Just as the three teams sent to kill the Gundam pilots and the one sent to get rid of the Catalonia witch had failed!

"Your report?" He snapped.

The man jerked to rigid attention. "Our agent in Oberammergau reports the police and fire units responded to a neighbor's call indicating a fire at the Kramer residence. They live almost five kilometers from the place but are higher on the mountain; the light of the fire attracted their attention. When the rescue units arrived they found a battlefield littered with the dead and the house engulfed past saving. One gathers they were lucky to prevent a forest fire from spreading out from the burning structure. At this time there is no final count of the dead but none of our people have reported back yet."

"I see."

This was still a fluid situation then. There was no way to know if the girl had died in the fire with her defenders. Yet, somehow, he was sure she hadn't. It would be vital to keep her from reaching any aid if she was still alive.

"Do we have any reports of unaccounted vehicles or aircraft in the area when the battle occurred or immediately after?"

"No my Lord. Our agent tried but was unable to convince his nominal superiors to allow him to accompany the rescue units. They would not permit any journalists to go with them. He has not been able to get out to the area at all. They have blockaded the entire property and a good deal of the surrounding forest. He says there are recorders in the area but he can not access them until the blockade breaks. He is too well known to try slipping in. They would be immediately suspicious. Someone from the Preventers has apparently been telling some very convincing stories of spies and terrorists."

"General Une." The Sun snorted. "The woman could lie to God's face! Very well, send our agent orders to keep his profile low. He must not act out of character or whatever story the bitch has spread will mark him as worth watching. Tell him I wish details as they become available."

"As your Excellency commands!" The man saluted and left.

Six strikes and only one success; if you wanted to call it that when all they'd managed to do was blow up a civilian aircraft that didn't even have the target aboard. The Sun was a very unhappy man. He knew the quality of his people. They were better than simply good. You didn't send merely 'good' after a Gundam pilot after all. Yet they'd lost five of the six strike teams now. Three of them were gone completely by the sound of this. He cursed the Maganacs and their ruthless defense of the Winner family. They'd taken casualties both on L2 and on L4 as well and the majority of the survivors in both cases had been arrested. Who knew Maxwell's neighbors were that well armed? And who would have ever considered circus performers to be weapons trained like that either? He was less inclined to forgive the team that had struck the Residence in Sanq. Extra Preventers should have been allowed for by that team's leader.

It was enough to make one question if there wasn't some real truth to the often used phrase that someone had had 'the luck of a Gundam pilot' when they'd survived an impossible situation. And it was true that in one full out war and the Mariemaia Incident combined only two true Gundams had been lost. Both the Epyon and the Wing had been destroyed in the Libra battle. The others had all been destroyed by their pilots own hands. Even Wing Zero could be considered lost that way since it had been Yuy's single-minded focus on the barriers of the Presidential Palace that had allowed the defense to finally shoot the thing down. Not, of course, until after the little bastard had managed to take those barriers out; it was one of the more spectacular incidents of 'Gundam luck' after all. All the more so since the apparently indestructible Yuy had survived the all the attacks and the resulting crash! He could only wonder just what it _was_ going to take to kill those damn boys off!

He forced himself to take and hold one very deep breath. He needed to focus here, raging anger would not help that. The air escaped in an explosive exhalation followed by an immediate gasp for more air when the oxygen level in his blood dropped too low. But it took the worst of the fury with it and he was able to think again as his body replenished the depleted oxygen stores.

So, what did he know? Well, he knew the five pilots were alerted to the intent to kill them. He knew the four they'd known how to find had fled their usual haunts and their closest friends were largely also gone from sight. He knew General Une had attempted to hide her adopted daughter, making it crystal clear that she knew at least something of the aims of Crimson Dawn as well.

He could extrapolate from this that the pilots were going somewhere. He was even willing to bet the missing Heero Yuy was with the rest of them by now. They weren't the kind to just vanish into holes. They would fight just as soon as they had an enemy they could identify. They were going to need significant weapons to do so though and there weren't all that many places to get them. The Preventers still had military mobile suits in their charge although they were all mass production models. It was not impossible, given what Une obviously knew, to suppose she would be willing to supply them with some of those suits.

But would the pilots, accustomed to the power and versatility of the Gundams, be willing to settle for recycled Leos or Aires? Not even the Scorpions of the Mariemaia Army would come close to matching the Gundams. And he had pilots of his own who could deal with any of the old, mass produced suits no matter who flew them. Crimson Dawn's new Sagittarius suits were superior to any of those, in armor, mobility, and firepower. They were close to being the equals of the original Gundams themselves in terms of combat capacity. And while no one outside the factory asteroid where they were being built had seen them yet, he had a shrewd notion that the five pilots at least suspected there were new model mobile suits out there. Maxwell's girlfriend had sold them too many sets of thrusters for the Deathscythe pilot to fail to make that connection. Maxwell had a big mouth. What he knew, the others would too.

Then there was the question of where the Dorlian girl had gone as well. The Sun was quite sure she'd taken the Catalonia witch with her, she'd been the actual target of that raid after all. It bothered him that none of his agents inside the Preventers could tell him who the extra pair at the Residence had been. It meant he had very dangerous Preventer agents out there somewhere, unknown and unidentified, and almost certainly traveling with the Dorlian fool.

He hissed at the empty room. Now he had the Khushrenada child to find as well. Just why he was so sure she'd survived he couldn't say. But in any case it was better to plan for the worst than hope for the best.

There was a crisp chirp from his intercom. He glared balefully at it before he tapped the unit. "Is this significant, Major Trident?"

"Very, my Lord." His aide's voice sounded almost excited. "One of the agents we have in the L4 police has obtained a set of discs. Apparently they were sent to Gundam 03 and he left them with his sister. She permitted the police to take them, saying the circus was safer if they did not keep anything that might indicate where her brother had gone. The agent was not able to review the discs but he did copy them. They have just arrived with his message."

Data sent to 03? From who? And was this the information that had sent them all into hiding?

"Bring them in. I will review them."

Minutes later, having ordered Trident to keep everyone out unless it was a genuine emergency, he slid one into the player on his desk. The portable unit would keep any nasty surprises from infecting his main computer; if the disc had such that was. It was the work of seconds to access the data. The voice that came from his speaker was a deep baritone, very deep and very, very angry. But it was the shot of a Crimson Dawn banner that angered the Sun. There had been a much more serious leak than he'd thought if they had that image!

"Trowa, it's been a long time." The angry voice spoke in an even monotone. "I need you to watch this all the way through. It's taken me over two years to collect this information and it's far from complete. I've sent this same warning to Quatre, Duo, Wu Fei, and Relena. I expect Wu Fei to share it with Une. When you finish this, you'd better start packing. You can't stay with the circus. These bastards will kill them all to get to you."

The Sun snapped upright! This, this had to be Heero Yuy's voice! _Yuy_ was the one who'd warned the others! How the hell had the little bastard gotten his information?

The disc never answered that question. It did tell him though that Yuy'd only known enough to understand the danger, but not enough to grasp the real source of it. His knowledge was too patchy, the data scattered across too many of their projects to allow even that razor mind the chance to genuinely put the whole story together. Nevertheless, what Yuy knew was dangerous. It would take very little now for him to fill in too many of the blanks. And since he'd so _generously_ shared this with his fellow pilots and the Dorlian bitch, their sharp minds would be just as quick to put things together if any new data came to them. Nor could he ignore Une or the Catalonia witch. None of them were actually idiots; no matter what policies Relena might spout she wasn't stupid, just a fool.

At least he knew for sure now that Yuy was with the others. That promise to meet Barton at the rendezvous was one he'd surely kept. It did leave the question of where they were going though. The Sun lifted the other disc, perhaps the answers were here.

"Hello 03. You've not met me although I believe you have seen my face once. I was the one who refused to surrender the Gundams at Siberia. I am Doctor J, and, as this message should tell you, I'm not dead yet."

The scream of blind rage that burst out of the Sun brought his entire security contingent smashing into the office, weapons drawn, seeking the enemy. He had just enough presence of mind to shut the player off as they crashed in. This wasn't something he wanted known by anyone else! J! That bastard J was still alive! This altered everything!

It took him several minutes to get Security out of the office. He had to get enough control of himself to take charge of them and self-control was not easily come by at that instant. It was only when Trident realized it was the information on the discs that had set off his master's wrath that the office was cleared.

"Major," The Sun snarled at his aide, stopping the man in his tracks as he chivvied the last of the security team back out the door. "You will put a Category Alpha commendation in the file of the agent who had the brains to copy and send these. You will also let him know he was very, very wise not to have tried to review them. The information here will force us to change a number of things."

The Solar mask came up as he raised his head. "I want the watch at all spaceports doubled. I believe the Gundam pilots will try to leave the planet."

"As your Excellency commands!"

"See to it personally and immediately."

"Yes, my Lord!"

He waved a dismissing hand at the man, who instantly shot out the door, shouting orders for an all-personnel message to be sent out at once. The Sun dismissed him from his mind as soon as the door closed. This could be a disaster. J alive brought a number of completely unanticipated possibilities into play. Up to and including the chance – however remote – that the bastard had managed to build one or more new Gundams for the pilots! Those boys had to be found! Now, before they could reach him. He'd watched too many people from Khushrenada on down underestimate those five. He had no plans to imitate that mistake! He hunkered down to watch the entire disc. Somewhere, J would have told the boys where to meet him.

* * *

Kira sat at his desk, a small mountain of personnel discs stacked neatly in three piles in front of him. He added the current one to the pile on the left and took one more from the slowly shrinking stack in the center. The pile on the right didn't deserve the name as there were only two discs there.

He was going to go nuts doing this, he knew it. What did he know about selecting personnel? Every time he'd ever been put in charge of anything, from the Strike right up to the Aube Fleet, the personnel involved had already been there. Where, oh where, did Yzak think he was going to get the knowledge to suddenly be the one picking new members for FAITH? He hadn't even picked his secretary! Shiho had just turned up yesterday with Meyrin Hawk and told him she was now working for him.

But this was the girl who'd been going out with Athrun before he'd pulled himself together and gone back to Aube! How comfortable could this possibly be for her? He was Cagalli's _brother_ for heavens sake! And from where Meyrin sat, Cags had stolen her boyfriend.

"Commander?" Speak of the devil and she walked into the office.

Meyrin gave him a rather worried look. "Are you all right Commander? I thought I heard you call me?"

"Ah, no, sorry!" Kira thought quickly. "I'm just frustrated with this. I've never had to deal with personnel issues before. Every other time I got a job, the people were already set around me."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "That must have been annoying. I mean being a commanding officer and never having any say in who's on your Team."

"Ah, I was an Ensign when I was with the Earth Forces. Ensigns don't command anything. And that whole Admiral of Aube thing was more for keeping things under control of someone related to the Athhas." Kira admitted quietly. "This will be the first time I've really been genuinely in charge of anything more than my own mobile suit."

He paused, and added thoughtfully. "It's going to be the first time I'll seriously be part of a structured unit too. I was always pretty independent with my suit. I mean, the _Archangel_ didn't _have_ any other mobile suits when I boarded her with the Strike! It was just me with Strike and Commander La Flaga with his Moebius Zero to stand off whatever Le Creuset threw at us. Not much of a Team there what with the Zero not really being able to really stand up to a Gundam and that was just about all he ever tossed at us, Athrun and the others with the other stolen Gundams."

He looked over at her quietly. "When I lost the Strike and Lacus gave me the Freedom, not much changed really. I was still operating on my own. There wasn't a mobile suit squad as such aboard even though by the time Aube was overrun we had Dearka and Mu and Athrun and me all flying off the _Archangel_'s deck. The closest thing we had to a team battle plan was when Athrun and I took the meteor units and blew up the nukes at Second Jachin Due. Even there, once we'd dealt with those we were operating independently again. I went the majority of the second war the same way; either the only mobile suit on the ship or all of us running independent battles. Even in the last battle, I pretty much just set up the mobile suit troops, gave them their targets and turned them loose. I wasn't leading anyone, not really."

He eyed the stack of personnel discs unhappily. "I'm going through them but I don't think I'm getting any where doing it. I mean, I've only found two that strike me as even possibilities and I've read over four dozen folders!"

"You found two?" Meyrin blinked. "Wow, that's really good!"

He stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "No, I mean it Commander! There are thousands and thousands of people in the ZAFT and even under Chairman Dullindal there weren't much more than a hundred FAITH. Two out of four dozen is real good when you consider the characteristics you and Commander Joule want for the rebuilt FAITH."

Kira blinked. "Well, when you put it that way, maybe it is better than I thought."

"It's better than I was expecting." Yzak said from the door way. "Bring the two you have. We'll drop them in my office. Or do you want to put off this trip?"

He was on his feet instantly, one hand snatching up the two discs. He hadn't actually thought Joule would make the time for the run over to Armory One at all. But it seemed those strange mobile suits and the hole in mid-air had aroused his curiosity too. Yzak just grinned at him, a razor-edged expression that said a good deal about how the other felt about the whole business. He swept out, pausing very briefly to smile at Meyrin Hawk. She'd really helped his perspective there. Maybe having her as his secretary would work out after all.

Just over two hours later, the two of them stepped out of the shuttle bay on Armory One. Thanks to Lacus' orders, there was a car and driver ready to meet them. Kira was glad to see him. Yzak had been getting steadily more wound up as the trip had gone on. By the time they'd landed, he was just about down to biting things. One Kira Yamato saw no reason to be one of the things bit; getting to the warehouse rapidly would reduce the chances of any 'incidents'. Fortune seemed to be smiling on him. They got to the warehouse in very short order, it turned out not to be far from the port, and were met at the door by a Colonel in ZAFT red.

"Gentlemen," the Colonel nodded briskly, "I understand you want to see the area where the, uhm, event occurred?"

Kira was relieved to note the familiar red uniform seemed to have a soothing influence on Joule as the other gave a very slight but polite bow instead of snapping the man's head off. "Yes, we would. Chairwoman Clyne has seen the recording of course but wants a human perspective of the site."

"I understand." The Colonel actually sounded like he meant that. "I still don't believe what is on that spool and I was in the Security office when it happened! I mean, I watched it live as it were and it still is impossible."

"Do you have the original recording spool?" Kira asked quietly.

"No, that's gone on over to the Science Institute. Dean Koudelka hasn't seen fit to send it back yet. If you want the honest truth, I doubt she ever will."

"That may be wise." Yzak said calmly. "It isn't something you want in a file drawer where some bored watch-stander can get to it."

The Colonel rolled his eyes in heartfelt agreement. "I'm Giles Farmer by the way and the entire warehouse complex in this sector is under my command. I'm actually glad to know the Chairwoman is taking such an interest in this. I have some badly frightened people these days. The ones who know the truth are bad enough but some of the rumors that this has spawned are really getting a number of people damn worried. A worried security guard is a trigger-happy security guard. We've been lucky so far, no one's been seriously hurt. But that kind of luck won't last forever. Just having both of you come is going to be very reassuring to most of my Team."

It took no imagination to read between the lines here. His people were starting to shoot at each other whenever someone was surprised. Colonel Farmer was probably very lucky no one had been killed yet!

The warehouse itself was so normal for its kind as to make what he knew had happened here almost surreal. It was impossible to imagine a hole in space-time happening in so utterly mundane a setting. But when they reached the center and turned toward the right, things began to take on a familiar look and when they arrived at the site everything but the long gone hole itself was just as it had shown on the recording.

"This is almost creepy Yzak." Kira said quietly as he stared around the surprisingly generous aisle. "Everything is here but that, whatever it was."

"Yes." Joule agreed shortly, his own unease not hard to read in the clipped tone and somewhat abrupt movements as he stepped carefully into the actual area where the theft had happened.

Colonel Farmer eyed the short row of boxed Null-jammer cancellers with an unhappy stare. "Just so you know, we plan to move these as soon as you're done here. There is a more secure section of the building, fenced and with constant video recording; we're going to move them over into it. Given what they are, they should have been there to begin with but that wasn't my decision to make. I wasn't in command then. I should have moved them the day I took charge here."

"Hindsight is 20/20, everyone knows that." Kira told him calmly. "Did you have any reason when you took over to suspect these were going to be a target?"

"Well, no, not with the war just over." Farmer admitted. "They stopped the planned construction of the mobile suits these would have gone into immediately. Truth be told, I honestly thought these would be collecting dust here for a long time."

"And this is a secured facility in and of itself." Yzak noted grimly. "It should have been adequate."

"I've got a bad feeling we're going to be saying that a lot here." Kira told him.

Yzak just nodded, then he began to cautiously prowl in the stacks. Kira knew he didn't know what he was looking for, neither of them did, but anything out of place was going to get a through going over. He sighed, by moving first Yzak had claimed the high ground. With a mental groan for the state of his clean, so very _white_ uniform, he knelt and began to search the floor.

They covered every square inch of the space. They traded search areas and covered it again. They found a lot of dust, a couple broken slats on the pallets, a few nails that weren't adequately sunk into the sides of their crates and damn little else. What they did not find was any sign that the hole in space-time had ever been there.

The air in the warehouse was relatively still. By the time they admitted there was nothing to find, they were both hot, a bit sticky, and very, very dusty. Their once clean white uniforms were an unpleasant shade of grey-beige with the grime they'd stirred up. Kira didn't even want to think about what was in his hair. He could see how much grit he had to have picked up just by looking at Yzak's badly dulled silver hair.

He hated to admit it but there just didn't seem to be anything here to find. From the look on Yzak's face, he'd been hoping to find a, well, a loose thread they could grab on to and try to unravel the whole mystery. Even a tiny one would have been a huge relief. Things had been so unnervingly _normal_ here; it was getting impossible to believe what they'd seen on that recording.

"Nothing!" Yzak snarled in frustration.

"No, there's a lot of dirt." Kira replied, hoping to coax the man out of the worst of this mood.

"How amusing." Joule replied in a tone that was anything but amused.

Kira just sighed. He made a mental note to have a very long talk with Dearka sometime soon. He needed to know what the trick was that the blond used to get his friend to lighten up.

"Unsuccessful?" Colonel Farmer asked, a bit unnecessarily in Kira's view.

"Quite." Yzak bit out the word sharply. "There doesn't seem to be anything here to find."

"Ah," the man sounded disappointed. "Well, if you and Commander Yamato will come with me, I'll have the men start moving these blocking crates so we can get those cancellers out of there."

"Do you mind if we watch?" Kira asked. "It will change things, make it easier to see spaces we couldn't get a good look at, when they've got those first stacks out of the way."

The man shrugged. "I see no reason why you couldn't. Just keep an eye on things. Sometimes these stacks fall without warning. It's quite rare but if a bottom pallet breaks, everything above it just tumbles."

"We'll keep a sharp eye out." Yzak promised.

Both of them stood well to the side. They were intending to observe, not get squished by being idiots. Kira was mildly amused by the level of irritation Yzak managed to sustain over such a minor insult. It did make him wonder if he stayed at 'steam' all the time; and why he'd want to if he did.

The first set of pallets was lifted up and out of the way, moved to a space up the aisle and just put neatly down. A quick glance at his companion told Kira the other hadn't seen anything interesting on that load. Well, neither had he actually. He'd just been hoping.

A second lift unit picked up the next stack. Either the handler was nervous or he was a bit short on skill because the stack wavered dangerously as he attempted to move too quickly. Kira watched with slightly widening eyes as the man elected to stabilize the stack by dropping it fairly hard to the floor and banging it into the one already sitting there. It was inelegant but it worked.

"What's that?" Yzak suddenly snapped, staring at the two stacks now sitting in the broad aisle way.

"What's what?" Kira asked.

"That roundish thing on the bottom of the front stack, there on the floor below the third box." Yzak pointed.

He looked but Kira didn't see whatever it was that had Joule's attention.

"Your angle must be bad." Yzak replied, then shouted, "Hey! Hold up here. I want to check something."

The lift units paused and Joule stalked toward the front stack and whatever it was he thought he saw. Kira followed, curiosity alive. And realized as he did that Yzak was right, there was something sort of round tucked in against the pallet itself just below that box.

The two of them knelt and eyed the thing. It wasn't really round, just very well padded. There were numerous small holes in the padding though and tiny appendages poked out of them. It looked for all the world like some kind of miniature sensor suite. He'd never seen or heard of anything like this though.

Yzak extended a hesitant finger and gently prodded the unit. It wobbled slightly but nothing else happened. He tapped it a bit harder with no more decisive results.

"What is this stuff it's covered in?" Joule muttered. "It has the oddest slick feel to it."

Kira could feel the blood draining from his face. He knew what this was. Well, not _exactly_ what it did of course, but what it was, yes he was sure he knew that.

"Yzak," he managed to grind out hoarsely, "that old guy forgot something."

Joule went completely still, staring at the unit that was about the size of his clenched fist. "What makes you so sure it isn't some new Alliance toy?"

"The Alliance didn't come here a week ago through a hole in the air." Kira replied. "Besides, while I don't read every language on the planet, I think I'm familiar with at least the shape of the lettering of most of them and whatever is printed on that outer wrap is like nothing I've ever seen before."

Yzak pulled the small flashlight he'd brought just for this search off his belt and illuminated the electronic what-ever-it-was. The print Kira had noticed was small but distinct. And once he'd lit it up, they could see there were actually two lines of it. The second line was in a darker ink that hadn't shown up in the semi-shadow the unit was resting in.

"The main script looks like a form of the roman alphabet." Yzak said quietly.

"Yeah, but what are those letters? I've never seen anything like those before. And they aren't numbers or stray symbols either, not stuck in the middle of a word like that. And that second line looks like some corrupted form of Japanese kanji."

"Yes."

They both stared at it. The proof the hole had really been there. That that old man had really come and taken the n-jammer cancellers across some kind of dimensional barrier. That the dreams and delusions of a few outer fringes thinkers were a lot more substantial than anyone had ever dared let themselves imagine. Oh holy _shit_!

* * *

A Preventer's field uniform was surprisingly comfortable. It had come as a surprise to find that out. She'd never stopped to think about it, but it was logical that it would be; the agent wearing it could reasonably expect to find him/herself in mortal combat while dressed in it after all. Mobility and comfort would _matter_ at that point.

And it came with pants instead of a skirt too. That was a welcome change right there. It was all very well to be professionally dressed in an office or public forum setting. But dashing in fits and starts about half-way around the world in just over a day, and without any staff to assist her, had already taught Relena that fabric that swished and snarled around her legs could be a serious nuisance sometimes. They had just been lucky they'd never needed to run anywhere in those long skirted disguises!

She yawned, getting a hand up to politely cover her mouth before she could give Fire a good look at her tonsils. This business of sustaining a false character was also harder than she'd thought it would be. She'd been expecting something like the school plays she'd taken part in for years. But this new form of acting came without a script or set director. She was trying to be someone very different from herself while real life went on all around her. The focus it took to remember who she was supposed to be and how this person was supposed to behave was incredible! Just doing this for the last four hours had already given her a much greater appreciation of what Heero and Duo had been carrying off when they'd infiltrated all those boarding schools and pretended to be normal students.

"We'll be landing in Chicago shortly." Wind said quietly. "When we get there, I'll see to it that our gear is off-loaded onto a pull cart. I don't want anyone but us touching our baggage so the two of you girls will be standing guard on it constantly."

"Isn't that going to look odd?" Puppeteer asked with interest.

"No. A team on an assignment will rarely let even other Preventers touch their equipment. Too often it is set up in a specific way for nearly instant use, something someone unfamiliar with that precise set could ruin easily. No, being defensive of our gear will look very normal."

"It's so normal that you two need to be watching for anyone who wants to get too close to the cart." Fire said softly. "We know there are traitors in the ranks, we can't afford to let one of them tag our things. They know we're out here somewhere. A team of four Preventers, two of whom are girls in their late teens, will catch the wrong eyes right now. We can't afford to be picking up any little tracers."

"Do we trust the pilot of this shuttle?" Puppeteer asked calmly.

Wind's eyes were cold, distant and unhappy. "No, we can't afford to."

"Who do we trust now?" Relena asked.

"Just the people we're going to meet Dancer, just them." Fire replied gently.

"Anything else we need to know before we land?" 'Dancer' enquired, glancing back and forth between Wind and Fire to see if she could catch any evidence of secrets being withheld.

"Our ground transportation has been arranged." Her brother said, opening his computer and calling a blueprint onto the screen. "We will land at the Preventer's own terminal here and pick up our cart."

She watched his finger indicate where they were going to be and the path they would be taking to reach the secondary ground transport area on the west side of the main terminal building. He had pictures of the route too, so they would have visual landmarks and she studied them closely. She'd flown through O'Hare just once on an official trip but it had left a lasting impression of size, people, and a potentially very disorienting layout. It was not a place she wanted to be wandering around in lost.

Wind tapped a small square on the blueprint. "This is the gold concourse. The Preventer terminal connects to it. We have to go through it to reach our exit. Here is the last of the embarkation waiting areas before entering the terminal proper. This is where I would expect to find whoever is going to be our contact person from the G-team."

The G-team? Well, it made sense in a way. She smiled slightly at Milliardo's attempt at humor.

"I wonder how we'll recognize him." Puppeteer muttered.

"That may be the real challenge." Wind agreed. "Whoever they send to watch for us is going to be heavily disguised. He has to be. The enemy knows what they each look like now. But then, so do we. In fact, we know them much better and Oh One aside, we've seen them much more recently than the picture they have. Besides, I expect whoever it is who makes contact will do something to make sure we know who he is."

He went on to give them precise roles to play when they arrived, knowing neither had a great deal of experience in true undercover work and that they'd do better with guidelines than without. He was most explicit on how he wanted them to deal with their luggage. Giving the right first impression there could take the most intense of the eyes off them almost at once. His instructions were detailed but very logical. She had no difficulty in understanding the why behind most of them, which made them much easier to remember. For the rest, well, she was to be the nearly silent newbie. Her voice was too well known. Then they were on the final approach and the time for instructions was over.

The landing and loading of their 'equipment' went like clockwork. Wind would point and one of them would hand him the indicated case or duffel. He would place it just so on the cart. She watched the people around them with the surreptitiousness she'd learned from Trowa but couldn't catch anyone paying them any unusual attention. If there were eyes here, they were better than she was.

The Preventer's terminal was a haven of quiet that ended at the guarded gate into the main terminal building. The long hallway that linked the two terminals was empty of all but their small 'team' but the noise level rose steadily as they moved forward. Relena wondered idly if the echo chamber effect of this wretched hall was something that was supposed to aid security in some way. The straight length was obvious, it gave the Preventers a near perfect line of fire if anyone was silly enough to make a frontal assault on their well-armed stronghold. Then they were at the small jog that kept the general public from staring down that hall. She took one deep breath as she followed the cart out the door and into the concourse.

If it had been noisy in the hallway, it was bedlam here. They were out at the end of the gold concourse and it seemed as though every embarkation waiting area was jammed with people. Too many of those people were yelling at someone or thing, crying children, playing children, or just loudly trying to carry on conversations over the powerful background racket.

Milliardo led them to the narrow ribbons of the center people carrier strips. A pair of much broader carrier strips bordered the central pair. These two, one inbound, the other out, were reserved for official traffic only. They had high, clear sides and were covered, with special air vents to allow rescue personnel to have a chance to access a disaster area without being overcome by whatever fumes a specific disaster was producing. They each had to swipe their id cards through the slide's reader to be allowed access.

The strip moved at a very brisk pace, taking them from the end of the gold concourse to the main terminal in under two minutes. As they came up on the waiting area Milliardo had selected as the likely point to meet one of the Gundam pilots, Relena studied the people there as intently as she could without being blatant about it. What she saw was not encouraging.

The area appeared to be occupied by a tour group, one of the big ones that dressed in uniform clothing so their mangers could keep track of them. They filled the space to overflowing and were clearly not welcoming of anyone not part of their group. She couldn't see any individual on the outer edges of that unattractive mass that bore any resemblance to her friends at all. More significantly, there just weren't any there not wearing the tour group's clothing. Her brother had guessed wrong.

They left the slideway as it ended, just beyond the huddled mass of the tour on their left and a crowd of more general makeup waiting in the area directly across on their right. If she was at a loss regarding where to go from here, Milliardo was not. He led them straight toward the food court and shopping area that surrounded the central atrium of the vast terminal.

The noise, which had been dampened while they were on the covered slide, came roaring over them again too. The people racket now vied with noises from the shops and restaurants as well as the never-ending stream of announcements coming from the P.A. system. It was enough to give her the start of a fine headache.

The hallway between the concourse and the shopping area was not all that long. It housed the usual restroom facilities, what looked like maintenance closets, a long middle cluster of comm booths, and a few benches, all of them occupied. There was also a set of elevators at the far side, hard against the food court. Milliardo was leading them toward those.

As they approached, the P.A. system blatted out one more announcement that Relena wasn't really paying any attention to. But one of the people seated near the elevators apparently was as she closed her book, tossed her bag onto her shoulder and stepped over to tap the call button. It took very little to see that her brother wasn't happy with the idea of sharing the elevator with a strange girl. But aside from a hesitation so small you had to know him to realize that was what it had been, he did not deviate from his obvious course. Apparently this was one of those times when one 'winged it', as Duo was fond of saying.

She was really pretty, Relena realized as the other turned after boarding the elevator to hold the door open for them. The very long chocolate hair was pulled high on her head and held in a pony tail by a striking silver ring clasp. Long bangs fell across her eyes and formed a wild frame for the more severely drawn back sides of the hair. The face was almost classically beautiful and the brilliant green eyes were something amazing. Pity she was so short. Relena was not really tall but even she was a couple inches taller than this girl.

"What floor?" The girl had a very soft voice, rather deeper than she'd expected too.

"Main ground transportation level." Milliardo replied indifferently.

The desired level was entered and they rode in silence. The elevator stopped at each floor but would-be riders took one look at the Preventer uniforms and stepped back instead. At least they weren't picking up any more strangers.

There was a five note chime suddenly and a mechanical voice abruptly announced, "Power interruption, power interruption! This car will be halted to prevent injury to occupants. Movement will resume when power is restored."

The elevator came to a smooth stop. But the doors did not open. They were stuck between floors.

"This is no fun." Puppeteer announced huffily.

"We wait." Wind told her shortly.

"How long?" Puppeteer snipped.

"Until the shock's over." The strange girl said in an appallingly familiar monotone.

Relena snapped around to stare. The 'girl' didn't move. But now she was looking past the obvious, the voice all the clue she needed. And she saw what she hadn't before.

"Heero?!?"

"Hello Relena. It's been a long time." He turned and smiled very slightly.

"Yuy." Milliardo was shaking his head. "Not what I would ever have anticipated."

"No, I'm not the one anyone would associate with this. That's why it works."

"It's good to see you Heero, even dressed up like that." Fire smiled brightly at him.

"It's good to see you too Captain." Heero nodded.

Wind gave himself a good shake and got down to business. "I take it you have plans?"

"There is a Winner bus waiting for us. You will follow me at a discrete distance. Wu Fei and Duo will be your flankers and Trowa will be tail guard. Quatre has gone ahead to deal with the bus and last minute adjustments for our actual transport off planet. We got word that there will be one addition who we will meet at the shuttle. I don't know anything more than that but the message came from J so I'm going to give it the benefit of an initial doubt."

Relena giggled. They all gave her questioning looks but the level stare from Heero was the one that nearly sent her into outright laughter. It so did _not_ go with the way he was disguised! That flat look belonged to a tousled haired boy in black spandex biking shorts and a slightly oversized green tank top who had a gun in his hand.

"I'm sorry, it's just so . . . . . , I don't know . . . . , wrong maybe?"

He sighed. "Yes, that's why I've jammed the elevator. I thought there might be something like this."

"It is fetching." Dorothy said calmly. "I would like to know where you found the hair clasp."

"Scotland." Heero told her shortly.

Relena stepped closer and let her hand reach slowly for his hair. She gave him time to tell her to stop if he wanted to. But he didn't and when she touched it, she realized it was not the top flight wig she'd thought it was.

"What did Duo say when he saw how long you've let this get?" She asked quietly.

"Well, after yelling because I'd grabbed his hand his exact words were 'shit, I thought it was a wig'. He then apologized for pulling it."

Milliardo's shoulders suddenly trembled slightly and his face turned a faint pink, like he was suppressing laughter. The corners of his mouth were also quivering. Heero gave him a truly filthy look. It only made her brother worse. It was no help that Lucrezia had a fairly broad smile plastered across her face either.

Relena could only sigh. "Oh, that sounds so like Duo. He doesn't handle some kinds of shock well."

"None of us do." Heero told her simply. "And yes, there is a good deal we have to go over. But now is not the time. If I keep this car locked up much longer it will trigger an alarm I can't override. We can talk on the shuttle."

He turned to Milliardo. "Give me a good fifty foot head start. We've seen at least three people here who are paying just that bit too much attention to the passing crowds. You can't afford to be obvious about following me. If you do lose me, I'll be heading for the far western doors and the driver of the Winner bus will be one of the Maganac you should recognize. It should also be the last bus in the line but Quatre wasn't sure they could hold that position."

He frowned. "These people seem sharp. I'd normally give you the old handsigns to warn you if I spotted one of them but I think they may be good enough to catch me at it."

Milliardo turned back into Wind instantly. "I'll keep watch myself. How are the others dressed? I do not want to mistake my escort for my enemies."

"Duo is also crossdressing. He's in a burgundy skirt and vest, white lace blouse. The braid is wound once around his head then the rest is loose at the back; interesting collection of 'hair ornaments' arranged in it. Trowa is done up like one of those 'peace hound' people, his choices are slightly neater than their usual, blue jeans, dark green turtleneck, blue jean jacket, all decorated beyond reasonable and with the usual collection of beads and oddments braided into his hair. His bangs are pulled back and you can see both eyes."

Heero paused, almost smiled, then went on. "And you do not want to stare or make the mistake of laughing at Wu Fei."

"You got him to dress up as a girl too, didn't you?" Relena instantly guessed.

Heero nodded. "He's furious about it but, like me, Chang is not someone anyone in their right mind would be looking for under a skirt. He's wearing an ankle length black silk Chinese style dress and jacket. His hair is up on sticks and last seen he was clearing a space ten feet in all directions just by spilling attitude around."

"Oh, my." Wind muttered, eyebrows rising almost to his hairline. "I'm looking forward to this 'escort'."

"What's Winner wearing?" Dorothy asked with bright interest.

"He's in a feminine version of Trowa's outfit. They are the only obvious pair. The rest of us are set up to be stray travelers who happen to be walking in the same direction."

Heero gave them all a somewhat impatient study. "Can we go now? The car alarm will sound in the next 90 seconds if I don't get it moving."

"Yes." Wind replied crisply.

A second later the car slid gently into motion. A few moments after that, it stopped and the doors opened on their destination floor. Heero instantly stepped out and headed across the immensely long hall. She and Dorothy pushed the cart forward but somehow, one of the bags slipped just before they could get out of the elevator. Fire grabbed it and fussed a few seconds getting it settled just so. Then they were off and a small crowd barely let her get clear before they began to pour onto the now vacant elevator.

She spotted Trowa instantly. Even in the wild mix of an interplanetary air and spaceport terminal the 'peace hound' habit of overdressing in gaudy beads and extensively embroidered clothing stood out. The outfit was eye catching in the extreme like most of theirs were. And the lines of glittering beads and small medallions braided into his hair turned that into a visually distracting helmet too. But they should have given him colored contacts like Heero was wearing because those emerald eyes were just too distinctive. Not even the glitz he was drowning in could divert you from them. He was picking up a pair of large duffel bags as they breezed past him. She didn't have to look back to know he'd fall in behind them now.

She noticed Wu Fei next. Well, half the floor noticed him really. A large, well built, and too clearly aware of his own looks guy was leaning on Chang when she first caught sight of him. What the man wanted was unmistakable. So was the impression that he thought his size and strength would get it for him. He was in for a nasty shock; Wu Fei only got that kind of look on his face when he was ready to kill someone.

"I said no!" Chang shrieked, one foot going back to hook the off balance idiot's ankle as an expertly placed elbow caught him straight in the solar plexus.

The fool went down flat on his back. Relena heard the air slammed out of his lungs from almost sixty feet away. Chang snatched up a large, plain black bag, tossed a somewhat smaller version of it on 'her' shoulder and stalked off, leaving the man to try to gasp some air back as best he could. It surprised no one that the angry Chinese 'girl' chose to pace the small group of Preventers who happened to be going in the same direction she was.

It was the burgundy color that allowed her to spot Maxwell. He was quietly collecting a large bag on wheels and had the strap of a smaller one over his shoulder. Duo was already walking as they began to come up on him. He ignored them completely but he was moving just a hair slower than they were. They would pass him by the time they reached the doors and it would look perfectly natural.

What did not look so natural was the oddly intent focus of a couple of the security guards. Yes, you expected security people to be watchful but these two were somehow overly so. Relena realized she wasn't wearing any contacts either, and her eyes were as recognizable as Barton's, as she caught one of them glancing her way. She turned her head slightly and stepped forward, one hand out as though she'd seen one of the bags slide. She stayed alongside the cart, hand half out until they were well past the guards. Only then did she withdraw the hand. But she stayed with the bag, kept turning to look at it, to maintain the image. She wished she knew if it worked.

Then they were out the doors and rumbling down the sidewalk. The bag she'd been pretending to watch really did begin to move then and she caught it instantly, setting it back in place without breaking stride. Ahead, she saw Heero loading his bags into the luggage compartment of a smallish bus. He vanished aboard moments later but now she knew where they were going.

Chang stamped ahead of them now as her brother began to move them tighter to the wall, squeezing out the other Preventer's position. He too, slung his bag into the luggage compartment and disappeared aboard the bus, invisible behind the darkened windows. Then they were there.

She recognized Abdul immediately and smiled faintly at him. He just nodded politely back and waved her aboard. She left the unloading of the cart to Wind and followed Fire and Puppeteer aboard. Duo was so close behind her he was practically pushing her on.

"Move!" Maxwell ordered. "At least two teams have reported us to someone."

"Three teams." Barton's voice announced quietly as he swung aboard behind Duo. "Zechs is passing the cart off to one of the ground personnel. He'll be here in a second."

"Someone's filming us too." Heero announced. "Abdul! We need to get out of here!"

"Not a problem." The Maganac replied. "We're a Winner bus, we don't have to follow the public routes."

"They'll also know that." Wu Fei snapped.

"Probably. But unless they have some incredible security clearances, they aren't going to have time to stop us." He noted as Wind jumped aboard.

The doors closed and Abdul had them in motion before her brother could whip into the front seat. Being the last bus in the line had advantages she'd never considered. It allowed him to pull them directly into the furthest outside lane and thereby bypass the clogged lanes where the other busses were loading. And when they reached the end of the massive terminal she learned one of the advantages of riding a bus belonging to WEI. Instead of curving to the right with the rest of the traffic, Abdul pulled them hard to the left. A heavy security gate swung open only long enough to let them through.

The bus took a road that led them back around the main short term parking garage and through a tunnel under the roads that led up to the terminal itself. Then they were out in the open again and driving alongside a full taxi-way. These were aircraft waiting their turn to take off. But the bus left them behind soon enough as it drove up to, and then under, one of the main runways.

The buildings in the distance began to define themselves into distinct clusters as they approached. This was the industrial end of the air and space port. The great shipping companies maintained their hangers and warehouses out here. The area had been part of two historic towns. Elk Grove Village and Wood Dale still existed on paper but they were less than a third of their former size. They had almost vanished when the launch ramps for shuttles had been added and O'Hare had earned the title 'spaceport'.

The bus turned onto a broad highway. Six lanes wide, it was as busy as any in the entire city area. But it was long haul trucks that made up most of the traffic here with local delivery wains making up the majority of the rest. There were a few buses scattered in the mix but cars were a rarity. This road was about commerce and commerce alone.

The Winner Enterprise compound turned out to be the fourth one down and it was easily as large as any of the first three. There was a file of eleven huge warehouses up against the road inside the fence. Relena could see a second matching line beyond them. After that, the buildings grew larger. But as those housed air and space craft, they were barely adequate for the task vast as they were.

As Abdul wove a skillful path through the organized chaos around them, she realized the large object she was seeing ahead of them wasn't a building at all. Relena was well traveled, both on Earth and among the Colonies. But she'd only once seen a civilian ship that was larger than the one they were coming up on. And she didn't think Peacemillion was a valid standard of comparison. After all, how many ships of any description could be honestly compared to a master battleship? Not to mention that she hoped there weren't any more like Howard's ship out there in private hands too!

She pointed at it and Noin glanced over. "Ah, haven't seen one of those in a long time. That's a 'Clydesdale', second largest surface to space transport ever built."

"The Winners own most of the ones that are left." Milliardo noted with interest. "They were the main transports for building most of the early colonies. They don't fly very often any more. There isn't much that needs their kind of capacity. I wonder why that one's on the ready tarmac."

"You will be flying aboard her." Abdul told them cheerfully. "She's the Chariot of Fire and she just came out of maintenance. We make sure they are rotated through the shop every five years and that they do a check flight immediately afterwards. The timing was perfect when Master Quatre told us he was going to need one of the bigger work shuttles. She's on her standard maintenance cycle, we didn't have to fudge a thing to get her ready for you. Her flight schedule was set over three months ago, there is nothing to connect her to you."

"Except those pictures someone was taking back at the terminal." Heero's voice carried grimly from the back of the bus.

"Ah, but there is another shuttle, a more logical size for an escape, being prepped in a heavily secured hanger." The Maganac gave them all a wide grin using his rearview mirror. "We will drive through one hanger, exchange you for others dressed enough alike to be convincing through this dark glass, and then the bus will go there. You will board the Chariot with all eyes drawn aside."

"Wait!" Milliardo suddenly sat up. "You said the ship's name is Chariot of Fire?"

If anything, Abdul's grin got wider. "That's right."

"Oh, . . . . . . my." Milliardo sank back in his seat with a strange smirk on his lips.

"An explanation would be real nice." Duo was giving her brother a very suspicious stare.

Noin laughed. "It's going to be an interesting trip. You see, a half dozen of those old shuttles were initially bought by a company that wanted to do both heavy freight and exclusive, luxury cruises. I've never been aboard one of them but they were supposed to have been, well, excessively well set up. All six of those ships had the word chariot in their names. So, unless this one's been stripped down, we're going to be traveling in the accommodations of the super wealthy and spoiled rotten."

"Nope, no changes." Abdul announced happily. "They kept both the chariot ships they own just like they were originally for the family to use when they needed to impress someone. You should enjoy this trip. Besides, Master Quatre requested a ship with room and many diversions."

"Why would he do that?" Wu Fei asked irritably.

"Oh, Rashid said something about not forcing dragons and shinigamis too close together for long periods."

Duo snickered. Relena looked around to find a wide grin he couldn't suppress on Trowa's face. Wu Fei looked like a bad thunderhead. Then something she'd heard only once before filled the bus. Heero was laughing his head off.

"This is not funny Yuy!" Chang yelled.

Duo lost it at that point and joined Heero, whooping with laughter. Trowa's shoulders were shaking as he ducked his head to deflect the enraged Chinese' temper away from his own amusement. Milliardo was chuckling, Noin openly laughing, and even Dorothy was sniggering.

"Of course it is, Wu Fei." Relena told him, managing not to burst out laughing herself. "And you would know it if you'd just let yourself calm down and enjoy it."

They pulled into the hanger beside the huge ship still giggling. Wu Fei was sitting straight as a ramrod, definitely not amused as the rest of them were. But when the bus pulled to a stop beside a small group dressed somewhat like they were and of a similar variety of sizes, they wasted no time getting off the bus. Their gear was unloaded by the waiting group even before Heero jumped off the last step, last one off as he'd been first on. Then they loaded and were gone. The whole exchange took less than two minutes.

Three other Maganacs grabbed bags from the pile and headed for a small door in the hanger wall. The rest of them picked up what the Maganacs hadn't managed to haul off and followed them. The door took them into a covered walkway and that led to the loading stair for the huge shuttle.

Once aboard they were met just outside the main lounge by Quatre, who had changed into his own clothing and had cleaned off the makeup. His hair was still full of beads and baubles though and the bright blue nail polish was a bit of a surprise. He pointed them down the corridor that the guest suites opened onto, telling them their names were on their doors and to get changed and meet him back in the lounge.

"What has happened?" Heero demanded suspiciously.

"We have another guest. One who will be coming with us." And that was all Quatre would say.

The corridor had three doors on either side. The first on the right hand had Quatre and Trowa's names on it. Rashid had the room across from theirs. Heero and Duo were apparently sharing the middle room with Auda and Ahmed across from them. Wu Fei got the third room all to himself as did Abdul across from him.

The short corridor ended in a cross hallway. The lights were off on the right hand branch but the left was brightly lit, making it quite clear which way to look to find their rooms. There was some kind of utility space directly across from the end of the first corridor but there was another line of three rooms beyond it. Zechs and Noin had the first one. Relena found her name on the middle one and when she went to check the last door out of curiosity she found it marked only with the letter M.

She found the Maganac's had been there before her. The two extra bags that were hers were already sitting neatly at the foot of the bed. Mind, she didn't find that until she'd wandered through a very well appointed sitting room that seemed to include it's own small wet bar and cooktop. Although it was beyond her just who would be silly enough to try cooking in freefall.

Relena didn't really unpack. She just found a neat pair of slacks and a blouse to change into, washed her face in the bath, and hurried back to the lounge. She found Quatre and his four Maganacs waiting just outside the door, the beads and other interesting bits finally out of his hair. Trowa and Wu Fei had beaten her there. Her brother and Noin were right behind her with Duo bringing up the rear. They were all in comfortable, and gender normal, dress now.

"Where's Heero?" Quatre asked, the question unmistakably aimed at Duo.

"Drying his hair." The American grinned. "Found a shortage already. The bath only has one hair dryer and I got to it first. Hee-chan was not pleased. That mop of his is long enough for him to sit on and it makes him look real pathetic when he's standing there with it hanging all around him soaking wet. He's way too skinny right now to be doing that. He didn't like that observation either. But he decided against risking breaking the dryer so I got away with it."

Before anyone could make any unfortunate remarks, the lounge door cracked open. Sally Po stepped half way out and looked around seriously. Her eyes narrowed briefly as she realized the party was still missing someone.

"Yuy?" She asked Quatre.

"Coming when his hair dries apparently. Maxwell hogged the one dryer."

"Hey!"

"You did, you admitted it." Wu Fei pointed out bluntly.

"No," Trowa corrected, "he bragged about it."

"That's pretty normal Duo behavior." Sally noted. "Quatre, do you want to wait for him?"

"It might be better if we didn't."

She nodded and held the door open. Relena followed her brother inside. The opulence of the room grabbed her attention instantly. It reminded her of her one visit to the old French royal chapel in the palace at Versailles. The color scheme was gold and white and it was hopelessly overdone, just like the chapel. Amazingly beautiful perhaps, but ridiculously overdone. As she caught sight of the enormous, richly embellished, Dresden ceramic chandeliers though, she wondered if perhaps Mad Ludwig's castle at Neuschwanstein wasn't a better comparison than the French palace.

"Holy . . . . !" the explosive exclamation from Maxwell pulled her consideration off the furnishings instantly.

"Hey, kid, are you ok?" The American was down on one knee beside a small chair. Sitting in that chair was Mariemaia Khushrenada-Une. The girl was deathly pale, making her red hair, darkening now toward copper, seem very bright. She was wearing a skirt and sweater. But it was the large rusty brown stain on the skirt that screamed trouble to Relena. Some where, some how, someone had gotten close enough to General Une's daughter to present a deadly danger. And someone had paid for her defense.

"What happened?" Wu Fei snarled the question before anyone else could ask.

Sally told them. Of the effort to hide the girl, of the battle, of the escape across bad roads and unplowed fields. None of it was good hearing. Whoever these Crimson Dawn people really were, they had a serious hate for some facets of the past. Like Gundam pilots and, apparently, anyone related to Treize Khushrenada.

They had all found seats on the chairs and couches around Mariemaia's chair, all but Duo who hadn't moved from his spot beside her. He was holding her hand now, patting it gently. Whatever the past might have been, it was very clear that Duo Maxwell didn't hold the Mariemaia Incident against the child it was named for.

"They threw grenades down the stairs." Mariemaia said suddenly, her voice small and shaking. "Sergeant Rus pushed me down and shot them for that. There was blood on the floor you know. I fell in some."

Her blue eyes, lighter than her father's, turned to the nineteen year-old former child-soldier beside her. "They were very kind people, Arnie and Heidi. Why would anyone throw grenades at them?"

"Because they're sick f . . . , they've got something wrong with their heads." Duo corrected his savage reply before it got away from him.

She nodded solemnly, "Yes, they're all blow up from the Sergeant's bullets."

The girl was in shock, Relena realized. The battle in the bunker under the Presidential Palace in Brussels three years ago had been a very quick thing. And she'd been critically wounded herself then. She hadn't really had a chance to examine the death and injury around her that time. It was very obvious she'd seen far too much in far too clear a detail in this fight.

"I have to make sure they're all right!" Mariemaia jumped to her feet so quickly she managed to slip past Duo. She ran for the door, Noin making a missed attempt to catch her of her own. The door opened and she ran headlong into Heero.

His arms closed around her, stopping her flight. "You can't get back there now. There's a whole ocean between here and there."

"I have to! I have to! They were so nice to me!"

"Then remember them." Heero's voice was soft, something Relena hadn't heard more than one or two times before. "Always remember the good people, Mariemaia. And forget the bad ones. That way, the good people always live on. And the bad ones don't get the rewards they wanted. They want to be remembered, so everyone will always be afraid of them. But we won't let them. We'll forget them. So no one is ever afraid of them again."

He held the sobbing child like she was a sculpture of living glass. But his cobalt eyes belied his soft voice and gentle words. He'd obviously been standing outside the door listening for Heero Yuy was deeply and truly enraged. And he held his head high, to keep the girl in his arms from seeing those eyes. But everyone else in the room could see them clearly.

"We'll get rid of the bad people for you. They won't ever be allowed to get near you again." Heero told her, his deadly eyes collecting matching promises from eyes of the rest of the Gundam pilots.

Relena risked a look around. Trowa was sitting like a stone, one visible eye a fair equivalent to Heero's. Duo hadn't stood up but there was a identical lethal pledge in his violet eyes. Wu Fei could have been carved of marble, he stood so still. But the fury in his eyes was impossible to misunderstand. There was naked rage on her brother's face and an expression almost as brutal on Noin's. Only Quatre's eyes held as much grief as they did anger.

They had a symbol, she realized slowly. In the form of a child who had once been their enemy but who was no longer. Mariemaia was now the living emblem of all the children they wanted to protect, to keep safe from any harm. She drew one long slow breath as the power of this sank in. Oh, this one girl, not yet twelve, was going to be the destruction of Crimson Dawn. She'd caught the full, protector-warrior instincts of the Gundam Pilots. They would rip the enemy to shreds for the harm done to Mariemaia Khushrenada-Une. The irony of it all was incredible.


	9. Chapter 9

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter 9: The trip begins. And the politics get more complex. Oh, and meet some new bad guys.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Sally slumped into the one comfortable guest chair in Anne Une's office gratefully. It had been one hell of a day. Up before dawn on one continent to grab the girl out of the blazing ruins of a battlefield, dash across three countries in a vehicle not designed for speed, dodging potential enemies and allies alike since she couldn't be sure which was which, a high speed flight to the middle of another continent, an emotion packed meeting and an even more emotion packed departure and one last high speed flight home.

"Tell me." General Une ordered, her voice nearly as tired as Sally felt.

"We lost everyone but Sergeant Rus from the protective team. The Kramers are dead. The house is a smoldering hole in the ground. The trip was hell on wheels for all three of us. She's in shock and will need all the help they can give her." Colonel Po dumped the basic information in a few spare sentences.

"Will they help her?"

Sally looked up, eyes full of memory of the terrible wrath of five teenagers at what had been done to an eleven-year-old. "Anne, they'll die for her if they have to. No one, and I mean no one will be allowed to hurt her. She touched something in them, something deep, something in the core of their souls. She is their mascot now. And no one harms what belongs to the Gundam Pilots."

"Yuy?"

"It was Heero who decided they were going to be her protectors." The Eurasian woman sighed deeply. "You have to understand. As far as Heero is concerned, Mariemaia Barton is dead. He shot her with an empty gun and 'killed' her in his own mind. Mariemaia Khushrenada-Une is someone else altogether. But mostly, she's a badly frightened, emotionally injured little girl. And Heero has issues with people who hurt little girls."

Sally paused, then added slowly, "Duo told me once that Heero had a mission go bad on him, back before they even launched Operation Meteor. I don't think even he knows the whole of it and I know he told me less than he knows. But something went wrong on that mission and a girl and her puppy were killed. Yuy could not have been more than fourteen then and may have been younger. The unintended death hit some unarmored part of his soul, and they punished him brutally for allowing the emotional response to that strike to show. All they really did of course was force all his emotions to internalize. The unresponsive, apparently emotionless killer who first brought the Wing to Earth was the result of that abusive 'retraining'. He's recovered remarkably over time. But it has left him with a permanent sense of guilt and an overwhelming need to protect children, especially young girls. Your daughter stepped right into the center of one of Heero Yuy's core personality needs. He will defend her with his life."

She smiled wearily and reached into her pocket for the picture. Anne Une was not likely to believe just words. Not after Heero's rather spectacular display outside the hospital that day. But he'd just been talking to Relena and he was more than upset over how she'd been treated. Few people understood better than Heero just how mercilessly damaging verbal abuse could be. And the arrogant, self-centered, self-aggrandizing child her grandfather Barton had raised her to be had been very cruel to Relena. He did not deal well with people who hurt Relena.

"This was taken just before I left. I do not recommend keeping it for obvious reasons but you need to see it. That's why I took it."

The General took it. Sally smiled slightly as she watched the dawning surprise cross the slightly older woman's face. Unless you saw it, it really was not something easy to believe. But she'd taken that photo and she knew there was nothing touched up in it.

The picture centered around Mariemaia. Who was sitting in Heero's lap, his arms still wrapped protectively around her. Relena sat on a small stool in front of them. Duo knelt on Heero's right and Quatre on his left. Wu Fei sat on an armless chair parked beside Maxwell and Trowa had a matching seat beside Winner. Zechs stood by Yuy's left shoulder and Noin by his right.

Everyone but Heero was smiling at the camera. His eyes were focused on the child on his lap. And they held a shocking depth of pain and sorrow. This was what Anne needed to see.

"You took this?"

"Yes."

"He's grown, hasn't he?"

"They all have. And in a lot more that just height."

"The wig is interesting. Why did he wear it?"

"It isn't a wig. He's been letting his hair grow for the last three years. And he makes a really beautiful woman properly dressed and made up. I don't know why he left it in that topknot style though. It has to get in the way hanging loose over his shoulders like that."

The General smiled. "And I'll bet you have a picture of that outfit too."

"Of course!" She grinned. "I have one of Maxwell in drag, Winner the same, and, prize of all prizes, Wu Fei as a modern Mandarin lady. Oh, and one of Barton festooned with beads, baubles, and more embroidery than you'll see at a gypsy wedding."

Une's eyes widened. "Chang? Our Chang? In a dress?"

Sally fished them out and handed them over with a broad grin on her face. The two of them enjoyed the surprisingly clear and well centered pictures. She had to admit she'd stolen these from the Preventer security cameras though. She didn't think the General was going to ever put down the one of Captain Chang in the surprisingly sexy black dress. Still, eventually she did. She set them all down and gave them a warm smile just before she dropped them through the shredder. They carefully burned the shreds in the ashtray Une kept for visiting politicians who couldn't be civil enough to smoke outside. Unfortunately, sometimes there were really, really neat things it was just too dangerous to keep.

* * *

Three hundred eleven air or space craft belonging to the Winners had filed flight plans today. Ramirez stared at the list in anger. Seventeen flights had been high speed space shuttles. Nine of those had been loaded and had taken off under exceptionally tight security. The rest were normally scheduled flights with passenger lists and cargo manifests they could probably get hold of if they needed to. The other two hundred and ninety-four flights ranged from local delivery hops to the every five years check flight of that near antique 'Clydesdale' that took off from central North America to head for L-4. Somewhere, on one of those ships, Headquarters was sure they'd find the Gundam pilots. And he was supposed to find out which one it had been.

He glared at the list again. He knew the betting was going toward the high speed ships. Yet, that really just seemed too obvious. The Gundam pilots could do obvious things of course but they didn't make a habit of it. They were more into stealth and surprise.

It was generally believed that they had been moving about ever since they'd disappeared. They hadn't gone straight to whatever their final destination was, that much was known even if the where and how of their travels weren't. Were they making ultra sure they weren't being followed? He didn't know and not knowing was aggravating.

Still, he had to cut this list down somehow. He was going to have to make some bets of his own to do that, bets he didn't want to be making. The price for failure here could be severe.

Jose shook his head angrily. He didn't have a choice in the matter. It was time to decide and go from there. So he started by dumping all the strictly atmospheric flights. The failed attacks had been all over the news first thing this morning. If anything was going to prompt them to make a run for wherever it was they planned to stay long term, this should do it. And he didn't think they'd try to stay on the planet.

There were countless places to hide down here and still over two billion people to hide among but hiding here had severe disadvantages. For one, there were all those pairs of eyes that might see something. And it didn't have to be anyone who understood what he saw either, just someone who'd talk about it. People loved to talk, especially about anything unusual they'd seen. The last message from Headquarters indicated the Sun was concerned with the possibility someone would get the pilots new mobile suits. Well a military mobile suit would be something quite unusual these days and very much worth talking about. No, if they were getting new equipment, they needed to be keeping it where there was as close to no chance it would be seen as possible. And that meant somewhere out in space.

He discarded the standard scheduled flights too. They were too locked in to their courses and destinations. It wasn't impossible for the pilots to take a commercial flight, but again, if stealth was the game and a serious destination the goal, the commercial route was probably too round about now.

Now he was down to something more manageable. There were thirty-one freight shuttles and that 'Clydesdale' that launched today. Of those, twenty-three had listed straight point to point flight plans. He set them aside for a second look later. Most of them were going to the same colonies the passenger flights were headed to. They were more likely to be chosen simply because they'd dock in the commercial section far from the busy passenger areas but they weren't high priority possibilities for the same reasons the standard flights weren't.

That really left nine ships, eight freighters and the 'Clyde'. All of the freighters were going to be making multiple stops, a number of them at one or more of the more isolated industrial stations where materials that needed zero g in the manufacturing process, or were just too dangerously polluting for inclusion on a residential colony were being made. The Winners controlled a surprising number of these stations, making them all quite reasonable destinations for the pilots.

That 'Clyde' on the other hand wasn't going to dock anywhere but L-4. However, it was going to be going through its paces out by the area currently called the Shoals because of all the ruined war materials, blasted guard stations, and the three actual ruined bases that were all jumbled in the relatively small space. The area was a salver's heaven; if the salver was a first class pilot who could get his ship in and out without being smacked by some of the smaller debris – too much of which was unexpended munitions quite capable of blowing said salver's ship into more scrap to litter the vicinity. She was going to be out there a good five days too.

He reluctantly put the 'Clyde' in the 'second look' pile. It was honestly the most attractive of the options in his mind but five days, no, they'd want to get where they were going sooner than that. And unless the old ship was met by another, they'd be trapped aboard her at least that long. Moreover, none of the ruins in the Shoals would support life any longer. Two of the bases still had working reactors so they could, in theory, have heat, light, and the rest of life support. But both had been so badly holed in the last weeks of the war that just sealing an area off and restoring all the necessary connections would take a year or more.

Besides, his team would be taking over the patrol zone that included the Shoals in three days now. He could check on the 'Clyde' then. He'd bring her back to the front burner if a check of the Preventer scans of the area indicated there was another ship out there. Maxwell had connections deep in the Sweepers, if one of them passed too close to that 'Clyde', then it would be something to check and check fast.

Ramirez turned his attention to the remaining eight. He began plotting courses, noting where individual shuttles were going to either dock at the same station or stop at sites close enough together that a skip-shuttle could transport a quiet passenger or two between the sites. He couldn't bet they'd all take the same flight at this point. That would just be too good to be true, a single target ship with all their enemies aboard. Real security didn't allow that, and he was deadly aware that this was no action-adventure movie he was playing in.

He finally finished his analysis three hours later and sent it off. This business of shorting himself on sleep was dangerous. They would be loading the team's equipment tomorrow, he had to be awake for that. Some idiot was always in a rush and ready to just do a half-assed job that could leave the cargo subject to shifting on liftoff. Whole teams had died that way. None in the Preventers yet, but both the old Alliance and Oz had lost ships when suddenly loose cargo had thrown the balanced weight vectors straight to hell and made it impossible for the pilots to control the launching ship. He stumbled to bed, praying he'd guessed right and the others he knew were assigned to it would be able to intercept the missing Gundam pilots.

* * *

Yzak was out today interviewing people. Some for staff positions to help them get this new FAITH off the ground and a few as possible members. This left Kira to hold down the fort as it were and keep the office from looking completely vacant.

Fortunately, there were no calls from the Supreme Council yet although Lacus had warned him one was coming. It seemed the trip to the L-4 colonies was rapidly becoming a hard agreement. The kicker for Lacus, and a point that had raised suspicions that had no facts behind them but were well buoyed up by emotion, was the demand by the Alliance Foreign Minister for an escort 'suitable to the dignity of the office he represented'. He was making it plain without directly saying it that he wanted the top officers of FAITH to be that escort. The comments about who was and who might not be trustworthy were almost blatant sometimes.

That demand, coupled with a surprisingly disparaging comment on a specific mobile suit he'd overheard at lunch, had Kira digging into files that would upset some folks if they found out. But there was a balance in politics that only a blind fool ignored. And being dragged into FAITH had put him in a very political spot. He might have avoided everything he could back in Aube that was tainted with the sticky mess but that didn't mean he hadn't learned a great deal about it anyway. So he was many layers deep in the manufacturing files of the three Plants that were most concerned with building ZAFT's mobile suits. Because Yzak needed a new one.

He didn't think so of course. He was comfortable with his GOUF and lethally familiar with all its systems and abilities. But it didn't take much in the way of eyes to see just how outclassed it was by Strike-Freedom. And a wise subordinate did not give a commander with a temper like Joule's a chance to get jealous. Nor did he undercut said commander by always having better gear. Yzak needed, honestly needed, a suit in the Gundam class. And the GOUF didn't make the grade.

The problem was getting him one. The peace negotiations were ongoing but they hadn't touched on the issue of mobile suits yet. So there was no obligation there to impose limits at this point. That state of affairs was not going to last long. Kira needed a Gundam, preferably one already completed or very, very close to ready to grab for Joule. He wanted something damn close in caliber to snatch for Dearka too. The Commander of FAITH should have his Wing in a suit that matched the station.

If he could find it, he'd see to it Shiho had a new suit too. Her beloved DEEP Arms was aging tech now and while she was technically only Yzak's secretary, she was also a rated member of the Joule Team. If he needed backup, she would be right there to provide it. Joule might yell that he didn't have a girlfriend but the man was just sailing on that Egyptian river there. _He_ might not think they were an item but _she_ sure did. And she wasn't the kind of girl to let him go out to get shot at without being right at his back, blowing would-be Yzak killers to small bits.

All this put Kira Yamato in the market for a Gundam and a pair of superior mobile suits not quite that good. It was beginning to look like he was going to have to hack every computer in the entire ZAFT to get any information though. Then he found a fascinating file from the last war.

Wow, they'd really had some wild plans for adapting designs based off the four Gundams they'd stolen from Heliopolis. He paged through them, noting that there was a designer or two who needed a lot less imagination and a lot more time in a mobile suit's cockpit before they let him near a drawing board again. Hands that would drop down so a cannon could be mounted _in_ the forearm? Had the idiot who came up with that one stopped to realize that there wasn't time in combat to go through all those steps to make it work? And where did they think the control lines for that flopping hand were going to go if they put the silly cannon in there? A beam rifle was rated for more power too. Talk about a waste!

But not all of the designs were bad. There was one for a Command Duel that looked pretty good in fact. Four 75mm Igelstellung mounted as point defense on the sides of the head. Two beam sabers, stored over the shoulders in the permanently mounted Aile pack that gave it atmospheric flight ability. An anti-beam shield and a fairly heavy beam rifle as standard equipment and, he grinned, a pair of Armor Schneider combat knives in leg mounted sheaths. It came with an exceptionally powerful sensor suite and the full set of command communications equipment. Give this a modern reactor power source, n-jammer canceller, up to date versions of the weapons, and phase shift armor and it would be in the Gundam class; especially with the kind of maneuverability possible with the thruster power a nuke would give it. And a command suit would be perfect for Yzak.

It was a good looking design too with sleek, clean lines, two eyes, no spikes sticking out at odd angles or heavy head fins, none of which factors would hurt the image part of its job at all. He gave that aspect a careful study too. Yeah, put this next to Strike-Freedom and you had the leader with his powerful subordinate beside him. That was exactly the picture he wanted. Now, had this design ever gotten off the drawing boards?

Yes! There were two of them in fact. Unfortunately, neither was completed but if they were going to modernize the equipment, that wasn't necessarily bad. The more finished of the two could probably be updated and completed in a couple weeks.

Kira sat back and considered this carefully. But no matter how he looked at it, it was justifiable. So, for the first time, he exercised the power his office gave him. He cut orders to move both incomplete suits to Armory One. And he cut other sets for the shops there detailing what he wanted installed in the one. The other would be prepped for a backup unit but left incomplete until it was needed. It would be easier to get upgrades into it that way.

One problem solved. He went on to see if he could find a solution to the other half of his mobile suit needs. In fact, he was beginning to think maybe FAITH should have a small, very high powered mobile suit Team of its own. The pilots wouldn't need to be actual members of FAITH, but he'd like them all to be of Elite redcoat caliber. To have such a tactical group that could react at a moment's notice, able to bring serious firepower to bear quickly; that would be worth considering. Maybe he wasn't looking for just two more suits at all.

* * *

"Dean Koudelka, thank you for taking the time to see me." Lacus said graciously as she shook the older woman's hand.

"I should thank you Madam Chairman for being willing to let me come by on next to no notice." She smiled, a gesture that felt sincere to Lacus.

She swept the Dean to the small side table in the corner of the office by the window and ordered tea and snacks. They managed to find small things to talk about until the food and beverage had arrived and the staff had left the room. Even then, Lacus held the discussion to light things until she'd managed to get some food into herself. The schedule she was keeping was seriously interfering with organized meals. Considering the item Kira and Yzak had dropped on the Dean's desk the other day, well she just didn't want to face alien data on an empty stomach.

Things could only be put off so long though so when she was beginning to feel like her blood sugar levels were coming back to normal, she set her teacup down to simply smile at the ranking academician of the PLANTs. Svetlana Koudelka put her cup down as well. But she had no answering smile for the younger woman.

"It is a detect of some kind." The Dean just jumped straight into the subject. "And it was hand built. It is both amazingly sophisticated and sometimes almost crude. They are ahead of us in places, equal if different in most, and behind in an odd few. I do not see how a culture with this mix produced the ability to pierce the barriers of space-time."

Lacus considered the information quietly. "Kira remarked that what he saw on the recording suggested a splinter group of some kind to him. That they seemed to be overall poorly supplied. Yet they had those disturbingly capable looking mobile suits with them. He suggested a rogue genius."

Koudelka nodded. "Yes, that would go well with what little we know. Such a genius would explain a great deal. However, his presence is not provable at this time. All we have is a single piece of equipment, and while it is a fascinating unit, it does not speak of genius in its makeup. This detect Commander Joule found is intended for what can only be considered standard uses. It is not part of the equipment that created the breach in the barriers. Our examination suggests it was intended to provide them with warning of activity by our security equipment. If so, its use tells me they know little of our systems as of yet. It is heavily biased to detect activity in the radio frequencies. It is not set up to even be able to recognize a laser pulse scanning system. As I said, they are oddly behind in a few places. The range and sensitivity it has for the radio frequencies though indicates they are remarkably sophisticated in how they use them. We discovered the pulse laser systems long before we ever developed the radio systems to anything approaching this level."

She smiled a bit grimly. "In fact, if we put a detect of ours geared for a similar degree of information gathering into one of their warehouses, it would be as blind against their radio based systems as theirs was to our laser ones."

That was not something she'd wanted to hear. It wasn't surprising though. They had to think differently in some areas after all, they simply weren't the same kind of people she'd grown up around. They came from some unimaginably different place that just happened to have too many similarities to be comfortable.

"Can we use this to make equipment that will recognize theirs?" Security, it was coming back to security again.

"I believe we can." Svetlana Koudelka replied seriously. "Our initial efforts will be crude of necessity until we have an opportunity to actually use them against their equipment to see what does and what does not work. But crude or not, with this unit to give us the knowledge of where to look for their systems, yes, I can provide a basic detection counter-probe in a few days."

The Dean smiled grimly. "What I can not do is provide sure knowledge of where to use it. I do not think they will be returning to that warehouse. They took what they needed; there is nothing to draw them back there."

Lacus could only nod in unhappy agreement. They had taken just six n-jammer cancellers, stacked neatly on those two pallets. If they needed more, they would have had another pallet loaded. She had gained the impression from the look of almost relief on that unattractive man's face just as the 'hole' collapsed that he was not sorry he wouldn't have to return.

So, time to move on to the next issue. "You told me you had designed a program to give you some suggestions for what you think we can expect from these aliens. Where are you with that project?"

The older woman sighed. "Unfortunately, I find myself in agreement with Commander Yamato's assessment. They are a splinter group. I can not tell you if they are a rebel group or a survivor of a fallen legitimate state but their level of supply, the degree of desperation it would require to even think of doing what they did, those make it impossible for me to draw any other conclusion. I must also agree that there should be a concern over the possibility they could open that 'hole' wide enough to put those machines across it. They strike me as being in hiding. And if you must hide, in another space-time is probably the last place your enemy is going to be looking for you."

Koudelka picked up her tea and took a thoughtful sip before putting it back down with an oddly decisive air. "I will tell you something else, something my programs have not said. I believe if they do come, they will be trying to stay out of our sight as well. I do not think they would be the leading edge of any attack."

Lacus tipped her head. That was interesting. And not something she'd gone far enough in her own considerations of the issue to think of yet.

"Why do you think this?"

"Because there are too few mobile suits involved." Dean Koudelka replied simply.

Lacus blinked. Too few? How many did one need? Especially, how many Gundams did one need to start serious trouble? When she considered what Kira could accomplish with the Strike-Freedom alone, the thought of more Gundams with unknown levels of ability was enough to have given her nightmares since she'd first seen that recording.

"I see you do not follow my reasoning." Svetlana gave her another of those grim little smiles. "They stole six units. That, combined with the fact that they appear to be an undersupplied group, tells me they should have between five and six of those mobile suits. I would lean towards five. It would have allowed them to have a spare unit to take apart for study while leaving them enough to fully equip their machines. Five mobile suits, no matter how powerful, are not enough for an invasion."

"Five in the Gundam class would be a deadly threat." Lacus replied.

"The what class?" The Dean was puzzled.

"The term is Commander Yamato's, an acronym he came up with using the first letters from the title of the operating system in the original Strike. He and I both use it to describe unique, prototype mobile suits of unusual power that are not intended for mass production. Usually, these machines are unique enough to have their own names, like the Strike, Justice, Impulse, Destiny and, of course, his Strike-Freedom."

The academician nodded, readily grasping the concept presented. "I see. And yes, there are some disturbing similarities between the units you named and the three machines we can see. For one, they also look purpose built. They clearly had different designers with different visions of how these weapons should be used and what they would need to fight effectively. Yet they are all from the same design 'family'. That their 'family' so strongly resembles ours suggests a disquieting parallel of rationale in their construction."

"They looked almost new." Lacus mused, not realizing she was speaking aloud. "There were odd points where things looked worn or even repaired but the whole effect was that they were new."

"New," Svetlana agreed thoughtfully, "or entirely rebuilt."

"I suppose it would be wistful thinking in the extreme to hope they were recreations of historic artifacts." Lacus managed a small smile.

Dean Koudelka simply smiled back and shook her head. "Wonderful thought. Somehow though, I doubt simple historic recreations would need n-jammer cancellers from another space-time to be authentic."

She sighed. "Point taken."

"I do agree though that they may be recreations of older weapons." Svetlana told her calmly. "This is something a splinter group could well be forced to by its limitations. If they had parts of those machines, from a battlefield or even a museum, it would be easier to rebuild the past than create anew. And it would explain the odd scratched plates and small dents we see on them."

"None of which, as Commander Waltfeld pointed out, show up on parts in service-critical areas." Lacus noted. "If they are recreations, they look to be very usable ones."

"Quite." The Dean agreed dryly.

With a small frown, Lacus eyed the other. "If you were an alien with a powerful mobile suit who had enemies dangerous enough to force you to flee your own space-time, where would you go in this new one to hide? You mentioned you could build detects to locate their kinds of equipment. Now I need to have an idea where to put them once they are available."

"I say again, I do not know where to look. However, if you are going to hide units like that there are three prime locations." Svetlana replied briskly. "I will say this because I've already asked several senior ZAFT officers where they'd put a team they seriously needed to hide. They suggest one of the quasi stable points in the Debris Belt, any of the abandoned moon bases that have working reactors without radiation leaks, or the abandoned colonies of L-4, a fair number of which still have working life support. They preferred the Debris Belt on the whole. However, they know it and visitors from a different dimension won't. I would suggest expending any vigilance efforts on the moon and the colonies. If I were a stranger, I doubt I'd want to get into that dangerously unstable tumble of space and combat wrack that make up the Belt."

Lacus nodded in agreement. "Not to mention which, a base in the Belt that used radio based technology for security would be relatively easy for both the military and civil scanners on Earth to pick up. The Belt surrounds the planet, everything down there has to pierce it to 'look' into free space. They know every power source in it. A new one would bring the Alliance or Aube up to investigate very quickly. If they're smart enough to be able to come here and experienced enough with war to be building mobile suits, they should have the brains to stay away from the planet."

"I would." Koudelka shrugged.

"How soon could you have a supply of those counter-detects ready?" The Chair of the Supreme Council asked. "I want eyes out as soon as we can get them in place. If they tell us nothing, so be it. But I can not in good consciousness fail to at least watch for so possible a danger."

She shuddered. "Did you look at the weapon in the rack beside the winged unit? Something that size could be as powerful as a hyper-impulse cannon. And it is a double barreled weapon. I've seen weapons that size fired by mobile suits, the destruction they can cause is nothing to ignore."

"I saw it. I've seen weapons of that class in use myself." The Dean agreed as she picked up her cup and drained it. "I can have the first ones ready in a week. They will be slow coming out if we have to build them in the lab ourselves but I take it you do not want any hint of these strangers getting out?"

"There are already too many rumors. They must stay rumors, and fantastic rumors at that! I've already spoken to an individual I trust to help design new rumors that will make the whole story sound, as she put it, like the results of a sneak peak in a forbidden lab after a drinking binge. We can not stop rumor, we can make it sound foolish though."

The academician smiled grimly. "Good thought. There is nothing like ridicule to kill a story. I will have a half dozen units by the middle of next week. Who should I deliver them to?"

"Take them to FAITH Headquarters. I'll warn Commander Joule to expect them. He and Commander Yamato can decide where they'll be most effective and they can arrange for having them placed."

"Oh," Lacus added thoughtfully, "considering where we're going to be putting these, an ability to pick up more familiar signals as well might not be a bad idea. Both the moon and L-4 would make good hiding places for local troublemakers too. It seems a waste to put out probes for an unknown enemy and ignore the known ones."

Dean Koudelka frowned. "That will force an increase in size you know. And the larger the probe, the more readily it is found by those it is set to watch for."

The younger woman nodded. "I understand. But it is a risk we should take."

"Very well. It will take a bit longer to get them to you, a day or so, but if we are going to do this then there are standard units I can adapt. I will be able to get more of them ready in the first group if I am simply adding the extra circuits to units already built. Make it late next week and you should expect a dozen units. More might be ready but I know we can get those done and I will not promise others until I am sure of delivery."

"It will be a solid start."

They chatted a bit longer, mostly about the rising danger of pirates, but the meeting was essentially over. Dean Koudelka was forthright enough to give Lacus confidence she would be able to produce the probes and deliver them in the promised timeframe. What she could not do of course, was promise they'd find anything. That would depend on the behavior of others, recognized enemies and the new strangers both. Personally, Lacus would be delighted if they never had anything out there to find.

* * *

"Fuck you! He's your enemy too. I'm not risking my people and ships for no reward!"

Commander Hannam just sat and listened to the arguments going around the table. They'd been at this for close to three hours now. It was going better than he'd expected.

George Napci, Captain of the _Saucy Annie,_ was leading the arguments. Well perhaps it would be more honest to say he was keeping them going with his belligerent attitude. His was the largest of the pirate groups sitting at the table today; he was getting the attention his seven ships deserved. Unfortunately for him, Napci was not a particularly smart man. The real brains of grandiosely named 'Brotherhood of the Red Swords' was his first officer. And Carter wasn't here to keep his Captain's mouth in check. Without Carter, Napci made enemies every time he opened his mouth. He was working overtime at it today.

Claude Boothe of the _Siegfried_ on the other hand was sitting back and letting the arguments roll on around him. His five ships put him solidly second to Napci in numbers but he was individually the smarter. He wasn't lucky enough to have a Joe Carter for a first officer though and was over-proud to boot. It made it possible to sucker him into agreements he shouldn't make; not easy mind you but very possible. His loud, ill considered, declaration in the opening minutes of the meeting that he'd kill Yamato for free, while nothing he hadn't said before, had thrown the entire group into this uproar they were still snarled in.

"You do not consider being rid of Yamato a reward?" Albert managed not to smirk at the cutting condescension in his sister's voice. "We will be giving him to you on a plate! You will know exactly what strength he travels with, his ship's flight plan, what mobile suits are with them, who the pilots are, everything you need to set up the ambush. It isn't your agent who managed to get this kind of data! Do you think it was free? Our money is buying you information. You can either go in with us or stay out. But there will be nothing more. The cost is already bitterly high. The days when we had the resources of LOGOS to fall back on are gone!"

"I don't work for free!" Napci snarled again.

"Shut up and leave then." Dieter Ruhde ordered bluntly. "If you don't want to be part of this, then do as the bitch says and get out! I'm tired of listening to you repeat yourself. I want a shot at the damn space monster and I want to hear the details of how I can get it. Listening to you break wind isn't telling me a damn thing."

Hannam leaned forward, intent on controlling this before one of these hotheads started a feud that would tear their forces apart. "Captain Ruhde, please, Captain Napci is entitled to voice his opinion."

"Yes, we agreed to that." The Captain of the _Ice Dragon_ nodded. "But we didn't agree to waste three hours while anyone repeated themselves until we all puked. And I'm about to. I want your data. I want to be out killing those filthy lab rats! Me and my crews have no time to squander on listening to him make mouth-farts."

"Why you . . . !"

"Enough!"

They all turned to Ellie Terasawa, the only woman ship Captain in the group. Hard black eyes glared around the table and men older and larger shifted ever so slightly away. She had a reputation as a mad-dog killer, one Albert Hannam knew was deserved. Everyone was supposed to be unarmed but he didn't believe they'd really managed to fully disarm anyone here and Terasawa probably had kept more weapons than anyone else. When she started snarling in that voice, it paid to listen. Not even Crystal wanted to fight with her. And anyone his sister backed away from was deadly indeed.

"I _am_ _not_ willing to listen to this any longer. We have a deal with these Blue Cosmos people. They pay us and we kill their enemies. Simple deal. A good deal. Payment's never been just money. This time its data." She glared around again. "Or will one of you sorry bastards try to tell me you could come up with this kind of intel on your own?"

"No," Claude said bluntly. "But good as it is, it won't power my ships. I need fuel. Hell, we all do. Losing that last convoy hurt, damnit!"

Commander Hannam watched as the black eyes swung back to him and the woman snapped. "Well, you got any comment?"

"I will concede it does no good to plan an ambush if the ships can't get there in time." He looked around the table grimly. "You're all fortunate that I managed to intercept that shipment when Boothe and Soderheim missed. I am willing to put a full fuel load on any ship taking part in the attack. But that's all I can supply right now. Our enemies have been more alert recently; I haven't had all that much more success in acquiring war materials than you."

"Fine." The bitter woman stared fiercely at Napci until the big man was nearly squirming. "Do I hear anyone who's got any argument any more?"

The silence was deafening. "Then we have a deal. Full fuel, complete intel. We kill Yamato and whatever we scavenge is ours."

Commander Hannam frowned slightly. She'd tacked that last on with an air of defiance. Normally, he'd not accept anything like this. At the moment though, Terasawa was putting her fellow pirates on the spot. It was worth it to let her be the one who forced their hands. So he nodded slowly.

"I will agree to that." Albert made sure he made eye contact with each of the ship-masters at the table to assure they were going to take the bargain. "The only thing I want back is proof of Yamato's death. If one of you takes the Strike-Freedom, I want to see it. That's all, just see it. Up close so I can satisfy myself that he is gone."

"I can live with that." Ruhde said coldly. "Hell, if I take it I'll even let you check out the cockpit."

Terasawa grinned like a starving shark. "Same deal. You can climb all over it. But it doesn't leave my ship."

"Acceptable." Hannam agreed calmly, knowing he had no means of forcing any of them to hand over the mobile suit anyway.

"All right," Boothe hissed. "Count me in."

They all turned to Napci. The infuriated man stared back. No one flinched. It took almost five minutes of silence and grim glaring before he finally shrugged.

"All right. Full fuel, intel, and scavenging rights."

"And?" Terasawa asked, voice so empty it chilled Hannam to the bone.

"This overblown sod can verify the bastard's dead if I pick up that mobile suit." Napci said it like someone was pulling his teeth with pliers but he'd committed out loud and with witnesses, it was good enough.

The woman turned to him and Commander Hannam nodded graciously. "We have a deal."

There, he'd just committed them all. He instantly began to outline what they had at the moment. It wasn't the intel promised because many of those decisions hadn't been made yet. The pirates all understood that, they were familiar with evolving situations. They listened and began to ask the intelligent questions of reasonable fleet leaders.

When they'd beaten the Yamato ambush into the ground for the time being, Hannam turned them to other targets. The money from De Groot had arrived on schedule, he had more than enough fuel to be able to offer them some extra to keep them working on all available enemy lines of communication. Targets were discussed, argued over, and eventually assigned where he wanted them to go in the first place. After all, even the most stubborn among them could see it made more sense to send the Red Swords seven ships after the three ZAFT Nazca's patrolling the dark side of the moon than it did to send Terasawa and her three ships out for a close to even fight.

He needed her elsewhere anyway. She had helmsmen skilled enough to slip through the dangerous space around the L-4 colonies to get them current information on the state of that space and the condition of the three colonies he was considering for the ambush point. When he promised her a chance to pick off a civilian supply transport from Aube, she jumped at the job.

The smaller targets he offered Boothe and Ruhde were readily accepted. They weren't spectacular but they were opportunities for loot and reputation enhancement. Both smaller fleets were actively recruiting among the human detritus left by the war. Among such men, reputation mattered. They could only attract the skills they needed if they had something to offer in return.

Assignments set, the meeting broke up. He escorted the four leaders to the hanger and saw them safely off his own deck. Once their ships had put significant distance between them, he had his own helm head for their closest space base, one of only two they had left and _not_ something he wanted his current 'allies' to be able to find. Now they were down to waiting for the intelligence data to make the final plans. Marcia had better have something for them soon. Those damn pirates wouldn't wait long. If he couldn't feed them the Coordinator, they'd come looking for other, more immediate, gain.

* * *

G grunted softly with the effort. This damn handtruck took too much muscle to operate. But it was all they had that would lift the pallets of supplies onto the handy racks in these storage rooms. The only really good one J had was too big for this tight space. He got the loaded pallet into position and set it down carefully. There! That was the last one in this batch. And this batch was the last of the food.

He trundled the handtruck out of the room and left it in the hall. A couple steps brought G back to the storage room doorway to eye the neatly stacked supplies. There was enough here for the boys and their company for six months, even allowing for Maxwell's still remarkable appetite. And he knew Quatre Winner would have more on that antique barge of a shuttle of his. Probably of better quality too as the boy didn't settle for second best if he could avoid it any more.

He turned back and pushed the handtruck out into the hanger to see what J had managed to move across for him now. It was spare parts for the mobile suits this time. G shook his head. This was going too slowly. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to speed it up. He'd come out of that explosion aboard the Peacemillion with nothing more than a few cuts and that bullet in his shoulder Quieze had put there. Time and a bit of doctoring had fixed that.

J on the other hand had been a wreck. Explosive damage aside, and he'd been almost as lucky there as G had, the engines had gone up with a surprising amount of electro-magnetic interference. J's bionic arm, leg and eyes had not reacted well to that. He'd been breathing but not much else when G had pulled him out from under that pile of scrap.

He'd had to discard the arm immediately. The feedback from the scrambled electronics in it was a threat to J's already unstable heart. One of the oculars had fallen off its mounting as well. He'd left that too. It was amusing in retrospect to know that finding both those items had been enough to get J declared dead. He himself was just thought to have been blown into so many tiny pieces that there was nothing left to find. Odd that they should make that assumption when they'd found enough of O, H and S to make positive identifications. But then, they'd made the same decision about that fool Quinze too.

G stopped his mental ramble at that thought, quite suddenly oddly uneasy. He and J had come through that incredible explosion. Quinze had been further down the gangplank than they were. Could he have survived as well? The idea had never occurred to him before and it gave him an instant stomach ache when it came to him now. The man thought _they_ were crazy! He was the one who had still been trying to write his bloody eulogy for the first Heero Yuy by slamming the Libra and Peacemillion down onto the planet to assure it was rendered unfit for human habitation! The fact that the first Yuy would have been absolutely horrified by it hadn't ever seemed to dawn on Quinze.

The old scientist glanced across the open portal thoughtfully. J was lining up two more pallets to shove over. His new prosthetic arm, physically weaker but more useful than the old one, maintained a solid four claw grip on the large handtruck's controls while his real hand input the lift requirements to get this load through the portal. At least he could pick up small objects with the new hand. Those pads on the old one had a terrific grip but they couldn't deal with small or very flat items. G made a mental note to himself to discuss Quinze with J when he got back.

In the mean time though, there were a couple items he wanted on this side before someone he could name decided to renege on that promise.

"J!" He yelled, knowing the other could hear him perfectly clearly with the portal open like this. "Put those down and get the reserve returns! I'm not moving another damn pallet until they're over here! In fact, I'll push back anything you shove over here that isn't a return unit! They were supposed to have been in the line before the last of the food. I've been as patient about this as I'm going to."

J gave him an expressionless stare, which pissed him off. "Do it! Or I'll tell Heero that you weren't going to provide them with a backup unit to get their Gundams home! Considering the issues he has with you already, do you want him to know about that too?"

"Those are the only . . ."

"I know they're the only reserves! We've been over this a dozen times. What the hell good are they going to do anyone on _our_ side of the portal? We aren't the ones who'll need to be bringing those machines back! And yes, I _do_ remember a machine or two of yours that didn't work on the first try! Get me those backups!"

He hadn't wanted to bring young Yuy's name into it but damn it, J was being such a stubborn ass about this. They could build a third return if they needed to. But if they needed the Gundams back unexpectedly and the single return on this side didn't work, well that would be lovely wouldn't it? Besides, both the backup units had higher ratings. The one here now was set up to – in theory since there'd been no way to test it – hold the portal open for a mass three times greater than all five Gundams put together. The backups were set up for five times the group's mass.

The real reason though was because he'd had a chance to run his own tests on both backups. He had a lot more confidence in them than he did the main unit. But he wasn't going to say that to J. They needed to work together on this, not go off in temperamental snits. It was a relief to see the other pull the heavy handtruck back and head for the neatly palleted returns. Apparently he hadn't taken his irritation too seriously.

It was the next item across. G put the heavy pallet beside the main return without comment. Nor did he argue with J about the order in which he sent anything else across. He just moved and stacked until he was exhausted. Then he left the smaller lift unit parked neatly beside the last pallet through the portal and, when J reversed the fields, used one of the small returns for personnel and went home. The boys would be here no later than tomorrow evening. They could move the last of the supplies themselves.

* * *

"Is she asleep?" Duo asked quietly as Quatre and Noin joined the rest of them in the opulent lounge.

"Yes." Quatre replied wearily. "It took a sleeping pill and two cups of that special tea of Wu Fei's but she's finally asleep. And it doesn't look like she's going to have nightmares either."

"It's too early to be sure of that." Wu Fei cautioned. "The tea is very effective but it is not infallible. Whether or not she dreams will depend on factors we can not control."

"Rashid is sitting with her." Noin said her own weariness showing in her voice. "He'll let us know if there are any problems."

"She shouldn't be sleeping alone." Heero said grimly. "She should be sharing a room with someone for a bit. She has no training for coping with war. The only battle she was part of was over too quickly for her to really understand what was happening. Besides, she was seriously wounded that time. It took her attention off what was going on around her."

"I gotta agree with 'Ro on this one." Duo nodded. "But I don't know who to put her in with. I don't think any of us would be real good choices. We're all pretty much back in combat mode ourselves now. If she touched one of us wrong when we were dreaming ourselves, things could be real bad."

"It will have to be me." Relena said. "We get along now and she knows she can trust me. Besides, that suite of mine has a spare bed in it. I know Dorothy was supposed to share with me but it might be better if she and Mariemaia traded."

"Or we could all three share the suite." Dorothy pointed out calmly. "It isn't like there was no space in it. Someone may have forgotten to put my name on the door but it still has two bedrooms. If you and Mariemaia take the one with the two queens, I can take the other and then there will be two of us to keep her company."

"That's a good answer." Zechs remarked. "We could leave the adjoining room door unlocked as well. If you needed us, Noin or I could respond immediately that way."

He looked at his wife. "Is this acceptable to you?"

"It's a very good idea." She nodded.

"Then that's what we will do." Relena smiled happily.

"All right, one problem solved." Duo grinned too.

"We'll move her into the your suite when we get ready for bed ourselves." Noin said, settling the issue before it could come up.

"So, Heero, what did you want to discuss?" Relena asked.

"Oh," Duo muttered, "bigger issues here."

"Excuse me?" Dorothy had one eyebrow up almost to her hairline at the wary tone of his voice.

"Ignore Maxwell." Heero said quietly. "There is no good way to approach this. I've got my computer set up. Please read the report open on it. We can discuss the issue from there."

Relena gave him an odd look. It was not like Heero Yuy to duck away from any problem. But he was looking out the port into space instead of meeting anyone's eyes this time. She didn't waste any time trying to argue with this strange attitude. If it upset him this badly, she just wanted to know about it. By moving first, she got the chair. Her brother, Noin and Dorothy were all compelled to read over her shoulder.

She was intelligent and well educated but even so, she had to read the thing twice before what it was saying sank in. Considering none of the others had moved when she went back to the top and started over, she wasn't the only one having problems with it. She stared at it when she reached the end again, beginning to recognize the feeling in her chest was fury. This, this was obscene! Their excuse was baseless!

"Those bastards." Zechs breathed in her ear, his rising anger a solid reflection of her own.

"You don't do things like that to people!" Noin yelled, breaking the near paralysis they'd all been in.

"We were weapons, not people." Heero said flatly.

"I'm going to kill J." Zechs remarked with the kind of casual calm any soldier would recognize as a cover for blind rage.

"It wasn't his idea." Quatre pointed out gently. "Ultimately, it was Dekim Barton's decision. Since he held the purse strings, they did what they were told to do. I understand this, I control a great deal of money too. I could do the same thing as easily as he did."

He smiled, very grimly, an expression utterly out of place on his face. "If I were ever to sink that low however, I would try to use better science."

"So," Zechs was fast slipping back into the Lighting Count, his voice going oddly precise and very even. "What exactly does this mean in the real world?"

"It means we are unable to look past this. I tried. I discovered this almost two years ago. I've made a number of attempts to accept sex from others outside the team. They were all failures. Rather embarrassing failures if you must know." Heero addressed the viewport coldly, refusing to look at anyone. "And once we were back together, it was not possible to refuse to act on the push either."

"I . . . . . . see." Zechs said quietly.

"No, I don't think you do." Trowa suddenly spoke up from the corner where he'd been sitting so silently. "Think about this Colonel. After all, Epyon was a Gundam. You're a Gundam pilot too."

"What are you saying?"

"We will keep to ourselves." Wu Fei told him bluntly. "But we all recognize you as one of us. The lucky one, who did not suffer this humiliating abuse."

"This makes no sense." Dorothy snapped. "Even if one grants it was possible to do it, it's a brain chemistry thing. How could it last this long? It should have been temporary, short term temporary at that."

It was Quatre who finally spoke up when the silence stretched too long. "I suspect an implant."

"An implant? One that's lasted six years?" Dorothy snarled. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"I don't think you're any kind of idiot." Quatre replied. "I simply note that I found a reference to research being done in Russia six years before Operation Meteor on long term hormonal implants. The concept was to insert a small device that would keep whatever changed hormonal balance was desired going by directly inserting the activation proteins into the desired location. It would only act when the desired hormonal levels reached some trigger level. If it worked, a small supply could keep things altered for up to a decade. It was intended to help with depressions induced by chemical imbalances in the brain. The one paper I found did not say it had ever been perfected. Since we weren't supposed to live three months, I doubt Dekim Barton would have cared if it was a proven technology or not."

"They were putting these things in people's heads?" Relena stared at him, aghast.

"No, they were still using rats in the paper I read. But I doubt that would have inconvenienced Barton if he found out about it. Please note, when you get the time to read them, all of those documents Heero has clearly show that old Barton was the one making the decisions on this kind of thing. This is one of the major reasons I suspect the implants. I found that paper in among other records recovered from his home and office."

"You might have said something to the rest of us." Duo growled.

"I intended to. But then we started moving about and it was largely pushed out of my mind. Besides, there isn't anything we can do about it even if that is the problem."

Relena slipped out of the chair by Heero's computer and went to find an isolated place to sit and think. She found a small alcove too obviously designed for a close couple and took it over. But once there, her mind refused to cooperate. It would not consider the information. It would not examine the present or consider the future. All it would do was replay those hours aboard the Libra and Peacemillion, when Heero had come to get her away from the danger of the battle about to be fought.

She could remember the tone of his voice then. And the odd, somewhat baffled look in his eyes when she caught him watching her. He honestly didn't know how to behave back then. He was just beginning to open back up to his feelings and they confused the life out of him.

She'd had no doubts at that time. He was the boy she'd wanted to marry. Doubts were something that had come with time. Time to learn more about him, to understand how very, very differently they'd both grown up and to recognize that the effects of those upbringings were not just going to go away.

So for a year they'd been friends. He'd vanish somewhere only to reappear when she really, really needed him. They would talk for a bit, and he would be gone again. She would go back to her office recharged and once more able to pick up the burden she'd agreed to assume when she's accepted the office of Vice Foreign Minister.

Then the Mariemaia Incident happened. Once again Heero and the others had responded. And they managed to save the world for a second time in a year. But that fight did something to him. She didn't know what it was but he'd managed to warn her that he was going away. She hadn't wanted to hear it. Or believe it. But he'd gone. And he'd stayed gone for almost three years.

With a small shock, Relena suddenly realized she didn't know this young man with Heero Yuy's face. The boy she'd been so attracted to was gone. This long-haired stranger was wearing the body now.

"Where did you go Heero? Who is this person who's come back?" She whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 10 More things get worked out and talked out. The political situation continues to degenerate. Kira presents his gifts.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

The Sun was deathly tired. It had been a long day and an even longer night. They had nothing but failure to show for their own efforts too. The only good news they had wasn't anything they'd put in place at all. He really wanted to blame someone and get the tensions focused and expended but that would be a fool's move. There was no one to blame. Well, no one still alive anyway. The leaders of the teams who had missed their targets were all safely dead. And if he'd learned nothing else from watching other's mistakes during the Eve Wars, the Sun had learned that blaming the troops only shattered moral without solving a thing.

And this was no time to be breaking moral. With Relena Dorlian now out of the picture, the government was beginning to fall into a game of finger pointing and blame. The President was the only man left who could have held things together. But he was also no longer a factor. Word had come only an hour ago that the old man had been admitted to the hospital suffering from a mid-grade heart attack. The preliminary estimate was a stay of at least a week and a half. This left the ambitious Vice-President in charge. And that man was susceptible to both flattery and misdirection. He was a vindictive little son-of-a-bitch too; a fact all too well known by the professional politicians, one that had a number of people already looking warily over their shoulders.

They were a good month and a half from being fully ready but sometimes things had to be taken as they came. It would be stupid to allow these conditions to repair themselves, as they would if Crimson Dawn stood by and did nothing. There was considerable danger in this of course. The Gundam Pilots were unaccounted for, as was the Dorlian girl and the Khushrenada child. But the tide of history would not wait while they found and dealt with those dangers. Crimson Dawn was going to have to begin its opening moves now, ideal situation or not.

He frowned at the reports from the mobile suit factory. They were running flat out but it would be a good three weeks before there were enough of the Sagittarius suits completed to meet the projected minimum needed to conquer the ESUN. If they moved before they had enough suits they ran the risk of having significant enemy assets escape to form resistance cells. If they didn't move quickly they risked missing the crest of the tide and falling into the trough behind it, with failure as their only footnote in history.

He chewed lightly on his lower lip as he considered their options, giving several reports quick scans to be sure he remembered them correctly. He nodded thoughtfully when he finished. They had to move but they didn't have to do it openly yet. It was time to turn the disinformation teams loose though. The more confusion and distrust they could sow in the government and between the government and the people the better now. And it was time to let the recruiters begin to bring in the disenfranchised men and women they'd been feeling out who had once been special forces or black operations troops. Those units were going to have to be put together in haste but none of the people they were looking at were rookies, they'd shake down quickly. He dictated the necessary orders to begin both phases of the opening operations immediately.

With that complete, he decided it was time to authorize a select handful of assassinations. There were still a few very powerful voices for peace. Some needed to be silenced, preferably publicly and in a manner that could be blamed on the incompetence of their personal security. It was just unfortunate that none of those were using Preventer security teams. It would have been useful to discredit that organization. Ah well, one couldn't have everything one wanted. He handwrote the orders; there had to be no mistakes regarding just who was to be targeted or in what order they were to be eliminated.

Lastly he picked up the intelligent appraisal on the probable flight of the Gundam Pilots from the Ramirez boy. Reading it, the Sun smiled. He'd done a through job, covering each group of Winner flights, with reasons for and against focusing on them. He hadn't come up with any half-assed assessment either. He might be wrong, God knew he wouldn't be the first or last of the Dawn to be wrong, but he'd at least worked at it instead of whining about being stuck with the job. Still, there was something off here.

He read it slowly, trying to see if there was something in between the words that he was missing, that could be triggering this feeling of his. The discarded atmospheric flights didn't seem to have anything attached to them. That assessment was straightforward and blunt. Nor could he find a point out of place when the boy discussed the commercial shuttles or even the high speed security flights. His logic regarding both was neatly set out and very, very clear-cut. It was a sensible logic too.

The freight shuttle analysis though, while as concise as the others, was not as confident. They were the likeliest of the flights, the boy had that right. But there was a very slight hesitance in the way he had this worded that differed from the rest of the report. He wouldn't have caught it if he hadn't decided to tear it apart word by word either.

As he continued to pick the report apart, the Sun realized it was the old 'Clydesdale' that had young Ramirez's attention. Why? It was an antique, and this one wasn't even a particularly serviceable one. The repair and flight schedule for this one had been filed almost two years ago. There was nothing here to connect it in any way with the evacuation of the Gundam Pilots.

The old man's eyes narrowed. Perhaps that was the attraction. That it was such an innocent looking trip. After all, it would have happened yesterday even if the Pilots hadn't been on the run. But it would have been just like 04 to have taken advantage of it all the same.

The Sun finally decided to hedge his bets. He wrote orders putting a two-shuttle team on standby. They would be available for Ramirez to use if he found anything out of place when he took over responsibility for the patrol zone. And that covered that. He reached for the next report, the one on the progress of their research team that was trying to develop a weapon that would penetrate gundanium on the first shot. They really needed a highly mobile and flexible weapon that could neutralize the Gundams if they did return. Unfortunately, this research hadn't been doing particularly well. Keeping his level of expectations safely low, he began to read.

* * *

Sally Po finished the interview and thanked the Captain. She offered him coffee before he left and the man accepted. They chatted about nothing for another five minutes before he put the cup down and headed back to his outfit.

She sighed. One more officer who'd tested clean of Crimson Dawn's influence. It was a slow process, this testing. Ever since the General had found four others she trusted they'd been doing this whenever they could. Now there was a company and the junior officers to test. If they passed, it would be one more to send into hiding.

Colonel Po studied the globe in her office quietly. She didn't spin it, she didn't need to, she already knew where the hidden facilities were. They'd managed to slip some two dozen Serpent mobile suits out of the Preventer's inventory and get them distributed in various hiding places. It was a drop in the bucket but it was a start. And they weren't short of parts or ammo for them either. It was finding trustworthy pilots that had proven to be the bottleneck. She could have siphoned off twice that number if she'd had the men and women to fly them.

Each contingent of mobile suits now had a full company to guard it. General Une had decided they would tell the people they were sending out of sight what was going on. So once they arrived at their destinations, they'd been shown the data J had sent. No mention of the Gundam pilots had ever been made by the placement officers. Yet each and every company had asked if they were on their side. They hadn't lied to anyone. They'd told them the pilots were also in hiding and nothing more. So far, it had been enough.

Their careful screening had located two enemy agents so far. Both had been transferred out of their companies and the rest of the unit had been sent to new duty stations. Neither company was under consideration for one of the secret resistance units though. Both men had been popular, they'd left their units with too many doubts about the current government to consider them for this. Those men would have to learn the hard way just what kind of traitors they'd befriended.

Neither of the traitors would be alive much longer though. Sally knew none of the details and didn't want to. She simply knew they were not going to permit any traitor other than Ramirez to stay alive. And the only reason for leaving him was to give them someone who might lead them to others like him.

A small scratching coming from the wall behind her desk alerted her to a visitor. Not a fool, she checked the tiny monitor in her desk before she opened the door. It was far from impossible for the enemy to find the handful of secret passageways that had been built into the Preventer HQ in Sanq. This time though, it was a friend.

Lieutenant Chen Ly stepped through the secret door and snapped a brisk salute. "I have the documents you requested Colonel."

"Good." Sally took them from his hand. "Is the team ready to move out?"

"Yes Colonel." Ly hesitated, then plunged on. "We need the Captain though. When will he be back?"

She looked up at the unhappy young man who was Wu Fei's second in command. "He won't be returning until things come to a real head. He's vitally needed elsewhere. The Chang Team is going to have to be the Ly Team for a while. He simply can't be spared from the assignment General Une has sent him on."

A child could have read the depth of disappointment and personal uncertainty that reply generated. Sally regretted having to do this to the other but she wasn't going to tell him Wu Fei was Gundam 05 either. She had been giving serious thought to how to best utilize Chang's team though.

It had occurred to her that they were all pilots. True they were space fighter pilots but pilots all the same. It was highly likely they could master mobile suits. If they could, it would double her current number of available pilots. What the Preventers didn't have, they were going to have to make. She made a snap decision, already knowing where she could send them to make this work.

"Lieutenant, I will be sending you orders shortly that will relocate the entire team. You will be entering training to enable you to support Captain Chang when he returns. I will expect the highest efforts from the people Wu Fei has such faith in."

The words worked wonders on the young man in front of her. Ly was suddenly standing at perfect attention, eyes brilliant in anticipation. It made her wonder if she shouldn't make that same suggestion in a few more places. Wu Fei was a lot more popular than the man himself knew. His skill, unbending standards, and willingness to train instead of blame had earned him a following that extended well beyond his own unit.

"Yes Sir!" Ly saluted sharply.

"This will be a stealth mission, Lieutenant. You will not discuss it with the Team or anyone else. You will receive the details when you arrive at your destination. Now, get back to your people. I will need you ready to move with all the units gear in twenty-four hours."

"What may I tell the people, Colonel?"

"You may tell them that they will be taking part in a special exercise, that and nothing more." She frowned. "You may advise them they will be on the exercise for an extended period. They will need to make whatever arrangements they need for the long term care of dependents immediately."

"Is the duration known?" Ly asked.

"That data is not being released at this time. Plan for several months. The time needed will, to some extent, depend on how well the Team does on the work."

"Oh," she added dryly, "tell Sergeant Diaz that the dog is not invited."

Ly flushed. Sally didn't grin but she came close. No one was supposed to know about that little Yorkie cross mongrel they'd adopted as a Team mascot. Unfortunately, it would be dangerous to try to take the dog with them. Quarantine laws aside, the dog's life would be in genuine jeopardy where they were going. Too much of the local wildlife regarded a dog that tiny as a snack on legs.

The Lieutenant left and she got down to cutting the orders needed to move the Chang Team out of sight. General Une signed them, a bit reluctantly as she'd had other plans for the team but Anne Une was nothing if not practical. The idea of training their own mobile suit pilots hadn't occurred to her but when Sally explained it, she agreed instantly. Especially after Sally told her about the old Alliance base once used to train special strike teams. Now all she had to do was get the men, a few mobile suits, instructors, supplies and support personnel there in the next seventy-two hours. She was going to be busy, wasn't she?

* * *

Flat on his back on the bench, Heero grabbed the handle bars and began a series of repetitions at the maximum weight this unit would give him. Well, he wasn't actually lifting anything here, it was a null-g gym so he was more pushing against a measured resistance but in terms of working the muscles it was almost as good. He'd already used the running platform and the rowing machine. He planned to go on to leg work when he finished both the push and pull here. He wanted to end up so tired his mind would leave him alone. That was not a simple state for him to reach; even now he was still in too good a shape to just wear himself out in an hour or so.

He'd needed last night. Seeing Relena again had left him as confused as he'd thought it might. He wanted to be attracted to her. But he wasn't. He was drawn to Duo. Who, it turned out, was amazingly responsive when you turned the tables on him and tied him up for a change. He could only hope the other three would understand why he'd locked them out.

The rhythm of the exercise was welcomingly hypnotic. His mind got off his case and drifted into someplace where the only thing it worried about was the slowly building burn in his muscles as he ran the repetitions far beyond anything recommended. He soothed it by reversing the system and beginning a series of pulls, suitably strapped down to the bench so he wouldn't lose the benefit in the very low gravity environment. It stayed locked on the program as he shifted to doing leg presses after his arms had been overworked enough to really hurt.

"If you keep that up, you'll be setting yourself up for a charlie horse sometime later today."

Heero rolled and twisted, on his feet and braced for trouble before Merquise had finished. He was infuriated with himself. Zechs wasn't Duo; he shouldn't have been able to slip up on him like this. He'd let his mind go too far away damnit!

The man was slouched against the doorframe, eyebrows slightly raised. "I wasn't aware that we'd gone back to being enemies, Yuy."

"We aren't." Heero agreed somewhat tightly as he came out of his combat-ready coil. "But I let you surprise me. I'm not pleased with that."

"Tell me, were you thinking too hard or working hard at not thinking?"

The glare he shot should have crisped the man where he stood. Unfortunately, it seemed Merquise was as immune as Maxwell. All he got for it was a small crooked smile.

"My sister is lost and confused and the five of you are about as easy to talk to as cats locked in the back room of a dog show. This is not a viable state of affairs. I have a very unpleasant feeling we are all going to end up in one hideout. This has to be addressed now, or there will be serious, possibly deadly, issues later."

"And what do you expect to say about it? That everything is fine?" Heero knew he sounded like a petulant child but he was having problems with his voice and that was better than having it shake.

"Obviously its not." Zechs shook his head. "Everyone's upset and walking around everyone else like the floor was covered in eggshells, very explosive eggshells. This is an impossible situation and you know it."

"Merquise . . ."

The silver-blond held up one hand and he stopped. "It must be discussed Yuy. Not shoved under a rug or politely ignored like 'civilized people should'. The stress on the five of you alone is high enough to compromise everything. Toss in Relena, Mariemaia and the two of us and it is a recipe for disaster. You're intelligent, somewhat suicidal but nevertheless intelligent. You can not meet my eyes and tell me this can be overlooked."

Heero sat slowly back onto the bench he'd jumped off earlier. Damn ex-Oz Special had that right. He couldn't meet the man's eyes while saying anything that stupid. He growled wordlessly in frustration. He _did not_ want to talk about it. Period.

"While you're contemplating whatever is going on in the back of your head, I have one more bit of news for you." Zechs sounded oddly tired and Heero looked up to find a strangely lost expression on the man's face.

"Hn?"

The blush was so out of place on Merquise's face that it took him several seconds to realize that was what it was. He let his eyes widen, sometimes surprise was justified. Zechs' mouth just tightened.

"You need to know that while the soundproofing of these rooms is impressive it isn't perfect. And Mariemaia is a precocious child. She heard Maxwell this morning. At least I assume it was Maxwell since Quatre stumbled and told me the two of you locked the others out and that scream was far too high for you. She's fascinated by the idea of the two of you together. As I've been saying, we _have_ to talk this out. Too many things that should be secret aren't. And I'm getting worried about what's in hiding that still is secret."

For the first time in years, Heero Yuy wanted nothing so much as to be able to melt through the floor. He hadn't really come to terms with this overpowering need for the others himself yet. He most definitely did not want to try to 'talk' about it with this group. He _really_ did not want to discuss it with Relena, Noin, Dorothy, or the child around! Yes, he'd learned to talk more when he'd gone off on his own, there hadn't been anyone available to do most of the common but necessary interpersonal chatter with the other pilots no longer there to do it for him. But he had no practice in discussing his own emotions, needs, or confusions. Those weren't anyone else's business!

"I can't do this." He found himself admitting.

"You have to." Merquise told him gently. "We all have to work on understanding how we feel; and what we are, and are not, going to be willing to live with here. Especially if we end up in one safehouse together. This can not be allowed to fester. And you know it will. It's eating you to the bone now. How much worse will it be when it's all of us in a small space for an extended period? Or do you think Crimson Dawn will be kind enough to start their war tomorrow so you can avoid your own mind?"

Normally he'd have glared the man out of the room. But it was difficult to do that when all he was doing was being both honest and accurate. The combination was stealing the strength from his stare and he knew it. So he glared at the deck instead. It wasn't going to notice how much of the power was missing from that look. And it wasn't going to tell Merquise just how accurate he was either.

"I have Noin making sure everyone else meets in the lounge in half an hour. You need a shower before you come. Please don't make it necessary to come find you."

"No." Heero agreed evenly. "That won't be necessary."

To his intense relief, the man just left. He gave Zechs ten minutes to round up the others and get them started for the lounge before he slipped back to the room he shared with Duo. It was empty, just as he'd hoped. He found clean clothing, ran himself through the shower, dried the hair until it was only damp, dressed, and took himself reluctantly to the lounge. Only an experienced understanding of how bad things could get if they didn't deal with reality forced him to go.

The door was still open, telling him that nothing important was being or had been discussed yet. He was slightly surprised to discover he wasn't the last one here. For some reason, Mariemaia and Noin were still absent. Unfortunately for his emotional equilibrium though, both Dorothy and Relena were already inside.

Zechs looked up grimly when he stepped in. "Good, that's everyone for the moment. Quatre, will you please close the door?"

There were moments when it was hard to remember Merquise only had four years on him. The man had already been the famed 'Lightning Baron' when they'd first encountered each other and Heero had always gotten a sense of maturity from him that far exceeded his actual age. Today, he had that feeling in spades. This promised to be a difficult meeting.

"Where are Noin and the girl?" Heero asked, as much to delay the conversation as to have the information.

"She's keeping Mariemaia busy." Zechs replied. "There are things we need to go over that an eleven year-old doesn't need to be party to, no matter how precocious she is."

"Thank you." Heero said, almost surprised to find how seriously he really meant that.

Zechs nodded back, and while he did a good job of hiding it, Yuy still saw the sympathy in the back of his eyes. He didn't like it or want it. But he was grateful to the man for hiding as much of it as he did.

While Quatre closed the door and returned to his own chair, Heero picked out one for himself. It sat alone by an end table, a little way out of the conversation group the rest were seated in but not so far that he wouldn't be able to hear, or be heard. Moreover, it was on the far side of the space from Relena. And he found himself grateful to her when she let him set them that far apart with no protest. He curled up in the high, wing back seat and made an attempt to just vanish. He wasn't fool enough to expect it to work.

"Ok Zechs, we're all here like you wanted." Duo was obviously no more comfortable than Heero was. "So just what do you have in mind?"

"We talk." Merquise replied grimly. "We talk about the things we don't want to talk about. And we do it because we can't afford not to. As I told Heero, we're likely to be confined together in whatever safehouse the Doctors have for us. We'll all be in serious trouble and likely become deadly enemies if we don't deal with the issues or set firm ground rules for behavior."

"'Ro?" Duo asked. "You agree with this?"

"Yes." Heero replied shortly.

"Why?" Maxwell grumped.

"Because he's right."

Wary cobalt eyes turned back to Merquise. "Ok, 'Ro says we talk. I'll at least start out willing to listen. Whadda ya wanna talk about first?"

"Sex."

Heero buried his face in his arms. Yeah this was going to be every bit as difficult as he'd thought. Then Duo gave an odd, wordless snarl and he knew it was going to be worse.

* * *

"The standard size of a Team is twelve." Kira noted as Joule frowned at him. "I was thinking with you and I part of it and Dearka for your Wing, we'd really only need nine others."

"You aren't planning to leave me out are you?" Shiho asked dangerously.

"No, but I'm not sure how to get you in either." He admitted openly. "I'd put you as Yzak's Wing if Dearka didn't already have the job. As it is, he does. So I'm not sure where to go with you. And that's annoying because you're a very fine pilot and I don't want to see you left on the sidelines."

"Oh, I got an idea there." Dearka announced from the overstuffed chair he'd appropriated the minute he'd walked in the door.

"You would." Yzak snapped. "I don't want to hear it. I don't like this at all."

"Why not?" Kira asked calmly. "Understand me, I want this sanctioned by the Supreme Council and written into the new Charter for FAITH that this unit can't ever be expanded. The whole purpose of it is to have a single, tactical response team that can react instantly. And it's our personal heads if we screw up by deciding to react with force too. On the other hand, you and I both know if there had been such a unit available to meet the Blue Cosmos strike on Junius Seven, there is a damn good chance it would have failed. It was Command's hesitation to accept going to war let them get too close."

"That's an opinion." Dearka cut in. "You'll find a lot of people who disagree with that one."

"Yes, and they still refight the Battle of Gettysburg and argue about Lee's decision to send out Pickett to attack too." Kira noted. "But that's my opinion and until better data comes along to change it, I'm sticking with it. And it's why I want this unit. We look strong on paper but if you really dig, you turn up our limits in people power very quickly. We have enemies, enemies who would love to hit us while we're not really able to hit back. A fast response team is one key to keeping those enemies from actually making a move."

"I doubt the Strike-Freedom and eleven GOUF units will be that big a deterrent." Yzak replied grimly. "It will need more firepower than that."

"I know."

All three of them turned toward him sharply. They'd heard the edge in his voice. Yzak gave him a ferocious scowl, knowing already that he'd gone behind his back on this. Kira tapped the plate on the conference table, bringing up the vid display. There, in all its renewed glory, was the Command Duel he'd commissioned for Joule. He'd even had it done in Yzak's white and pale gray to make it unmistakably clear right from the first glance who it was intended for.

"But the Duel's outdated tech?" Dearka said it more like a question than a statement.

"This isn't the Duel although it is based heavily on it." Kira smiled tightly. "Meet the Command Duel. Has four 75mm Igelstellung head mounted guns for CIWS, an permanent Aile pack, two 'Super Lacerta' beam sabers, two beam shields mounted on the arms, and a pair of high energy beam rifles. If all else fails, it even has a pair of Armor Schneider combat knives. It also has a sensor suite that is at least as good as mine and a full command communications suite. It's powered by a deuterion reactor and has an n-jammer canceller. Oh, and it comes with variable phase shift armor and the 'g.u.n.d.a.m.' operating system."

"What, . . . . . shit!" Yzak spit.

"Get something straight here Joule." Commander Yamato said flatly. "You have an office to uphold. Your GOUF Ignited is a good machine, but it's a mass produced model. You put that in front of my Strike-Freedom and you lose position you can't afford to be giving up. You _must_ have a mobile suit on par with mine. Better would be considered appropriate but I couldn't find anything that was. And between the four of us, I can handle more weaponry at one time than you can. So, since command is your job, I went this way; a command suit that can kick butt."

Dearka had been running the specs and whistled in admiration. "Oh hell, Yzak, you should look at the range on these beam rifles! And they can be combined to make a sniper rifle like my old Buster had! You can shoot the shit out of anything short of Kira's machine with these. This is one sweet mobile suit."

"Uhm." Shiho was also studying the new machine. "He's got a real point about putting a GOUF beside the Strike-Freedom. This one on the other hand, well, it's just as clearly a special unit as Kira's is. And it's a good looking machine too. I like the very clean lines. It will look capable of being in command of Strike-Freedom, something your GOUF Ignited simply couldn't manage in a million years. A lot of our early efforts with FAITH are going to be going on appearances and impressions. Plus, this suit is fully capable of doing all the damage it looks like it can. Combine it with Kira's and a highly trained team and yeah, you will have a deterrent."

She looked up, eyes dead serious. "He's got a good point here. You really need to consider it."

The glower in Joule's eyes didn't diminish but it was matched by an odd admiration. Kira pretended not to notice. He wanted Yzak's agreement here, not to make him so mad he tossed common sense out the door.

"I suppose you've already found out how long it will take to have one of these made?"

"Two of them were started during the first Valentine War. I don't know why they were abandoned but I've already had them both sent to Armory One. Your new mobile suit will be ready in six days. Considering how the peace talks are going, it should be done before they get around to discussing the limits they want to try to put on mobile suits this time."

"Six days!?!" Yzak stared at him.

"Yeah." Kira grinned. "Apparently they are going to have to do a lot less to bring the suit up to current standards than I thought."

"Whoa!" Dearka exclaimed. "How fast can you get us a pair of GOUF Ignited's to go with this new look your setting up?"

"Hey! I have a mobile suit!" Shiho yelled.

"Shiho," Kira said gently, "think about this please. I know you're very attached to the DEEP Arms but its aging tech. If it were simply a case of upgrading the systems, I'd have it sent to Armory One and get the work done. But the frame has seen a lot of use too. I had a couple engineers look it over and they say it isn't in good enough shape to be worth the upgrade. You need a new suit, honest, you do."

"The GOUF may be a great suit but it's ugly." She snapped.

"Excuse me? What did you say?" Yzak stared at her.

"I said they're ugly. It's a personal opinion about a piece of military equipment. It has nothing to do with anyone who operates one."

"Do you like this better?" Kira asked, activating a second vid screen.

The new mobile suit was another find from his research into the files of the last war. This one was a modification of the Blitz. It was numerous shades of black and gray with silver highlights. The 'Trikeros' system was gone though, replaced by more standard weaponry. This version had a pair of the 75mm Igelstellung mounted in the head for CIWS. There was a permanent Aile pack on this suit too and it also carried a pair of beam sabers. There was a beam shield built into the right arm and the 'Gleipner' anchor of the original Blitz mounted on the left. It too had a pair of the same high energy beam rifles the Command Duel had and standard phase shift armor. The suit also had an unusual number of maneuvering verniers, promising an amazing degree of agility.

"These also have deuterion reactors, n-jammer cancellers and the 'g.u.n.d.a.m.' os." Kira said softly. "But they have another special trick. They're like the Blitz was, they have Mirage Colloid as well. They were designated as the Blitz-Ranger, for their ability to handle atmosphere and maneuver like cats I think. Both of them were four-fifths finished at the end of the last war and just stored. They're at Armory One too. It'll be about three weeks before they're ready though. There's more to take out and put in on them and they have to be careful not to damage the Colloid."

"They?" Dearka asked.

"Yes, you weren't listening, there are two of them. One for you and one for Shiho." He turned dead serious eyes on the other three in the room. "All of these machines fit into what I call the 'Gundam class'. They're exceptionally powerful and, the two Blitz-Rangers aside, each is unique. These four and eight GOUF Ignited units were my plan for the FAITH tactical team. Once we can figure out how to get Shiho into the unit that is."

"Oh I can solve that." Dearka said again.

"Fine, since you won't shut up until you get it off your chest, I'm listening." Yzak sounded like he knew what was coming and he didn't like it already.

"We are going to be honest and we are going to be practical here." The blond stared hard at his commander and best friend. "You may insist you don't have, need, or want a girlfriend but everyone thinks you should have one and everyone thinks Shiho is that girl. Even your mother says so. So we are going to go with expediency and with practicality. Now, you can't assign a GOUF as Wing for the Strike-Freedom, no GOUF could keep up with it. That'd be worse than stupid and it'd end up breaking the moral of the GOUF pilot. These new Blitz-Rangers are another story. They won't have any problem keeping up with either of your suits. So we do the obvious; you have Shiho for your Wing and I fly as Kira's."

"We do no . . ." Yzak started to shout.

"Perfect." Kira cut him off. "Shiho wouldn't be happy as my Wing and anyone being honest with himself would know and admit it."

He turned to Yzak. "Are you being honest with yourself here?"

"I, . ." Joule faltered.

"Has she ever been anything but a professional while serving under your command?" Kira pressed the point.

Yzak shook his head. "No, her service has been exemplary."

"What's the problem?"

Joule's nostrils flared. "I don't need any more gossip!"

"She's flown as your Wing before." Kira noted. "I doubt the gossip will either increase noticeably or change. You're stuck with the public opinion about the two of you. Now are you going to be professional and ignore it so we can build an efficient unit or are you going to let it get to you?"

The blue eyes were molten but the rage did not reach his voice. "We will build the unit. I will look over your data and write up a presentation for the Supreme Council by Friday."

With that, Commander Joule stalked out of the room. Kira let him go without argument. This had gone so much better than he'd been expecting it wasn't funny. He glanced at the other two though and knew he wasn't quite finished here yet.

"Dearka, are you really comfortable with the idea of being my Wing?"

Lavender eyes similar to his own met his evenly. "Yeah, yeah I am. The real question may be are _you_ ready to have someone sticking to you like glue? You're real prone to running around battlefields all on your own you know. But the Second of FAITH won't be able to do that. You're going to have to work in a structured unit now and I know for a fact that you've never done that before. You think you can handle it?"

"I don't know." Kira told him honestly. "But I don't see any reason why I couldn't learn how to do it."

"Well, that's a good place to start from. We'll have to start practicing working together and developing combat plans just as soon as my new suit is delivered."

Kira groaned mentally. One more thing he was going to have to find time for! He hadn't considered this when he'd planned out the new unit. Stupid him.

"Commander, will you permit either Dearka or myself to individualize our Blitz-Rangers?" Shiho asked. "Being able to tell them apart would be useful you know."

"Yes, but so is not being able to have the enemy tell them apart. Run that one by Yzak. If he says you can, I'll agree. He knows how units with a mix of special and standard suits work better than I do."

"Thank you, sir."

She promptly stood, saluted and left. Kira turned both vid screens off and flopped into a chair. Dearka snorted softly and the other Coordinator just looked at him, one eyebrow up.

"What is this really about Yamato?"

"Just what I said it was."

"Pardon me if I think something is being glossed over here."

"No, it really isn't." Kira shook his head slowly. "We need a deterrent unit, one with serious firepower that can move faster than the Council can argue. And Yzak absolutely must have a mobile suit that is at least in the same general class as mine. He's in a very political arena now and he can't afford to be overshadowed by his subordinates. FAITH will lose power if it's Commander does."

"Yeah, I understand all that. But what else is going on? What the hell happened over at that warehouse on Armory One the other week? The stories are crazy, too crazy to believe, or to ignore."

Kira made a snap decision. Dearka was going to be involved no matter what if those strangers really did cross over. He didn't want the other, who had become something of a real friend now, to go into this blind. He decided he'd either tell Shiho himself or bully Yzak into it too since she was going to be his Wing.

He entered a very high security code and brought up the vid screen again. "Come over here. There's something you need to watch. We'll go over it when you've seen this."

Five minutes later, after Dearka had run through the short clip several times, the blond just turned to stare at him. Kira simply nodded. Dearka's eyes widened. So, now he knew. They both studied the two and a half mobile suits they could see through the hole in the air. And, after some rather frank discussion, he discovered they both shared the very uncomfortable feeling that they were going to get a much better look at them someday.

* * *

Captain Ilene Terasawa of the _Starving Vulture_ sat in her command chair on the bridge and studied the situation ahead of her. It wasn't pretty. The neglected colonies here at L-4 had been coming apart for years. A bad encounter with an exceptionally heavy burst from the Pleiades meteor shower a dozen years ago had started the real deterioration. Two wars had done the abandoned structures no favors. At least two significant battles had been fought among them, with corresponding levels of damage adding to the litter.

There had been sporadic scavenger efforts made too. Some had been better organized than others, causing less damage. A few had been directed at the completely dead colonies. At least three of those had taken no care of how big a hole they punched in the structures or how much junk they threw around. And that effeminate ass Hannam wanted them to try cornering Yamato in here! Bastard was fucking nuts.

"Captain Ellie, how close do you want us to try to get?"

She scowled at her helmsman. "I don't want us to go any closer. You got that?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

Goddard Colony was a flat out write-off as an ambush site. The data Blue Cosmos had given her was almost three years old and what her screens showed her reflected that. The colony was in much worse shape than it had been the last time one of Hannam's allies had come by here. The debris field had spread dangerously. Worse, there were dozens of the sectional support lines floating free around the colony now. Most of them were still anchored at one end too, making them deadly snares for any ship.

She shook her head. Something had hit this place and hit it pretty hard too. Whatever it was hadn't punched any holes but it sure had torn up the exterior. It almost looked like it had been clipped by energy from the Requiem. That didn't seem likely though as she couldn't recall it having either being fired or having a shot deflected in this direction. She shrugged, it hardly mattered what it had been, the results were what counted.

"I take it we're writing off Goddard too." Mickey Peters, her First Officer asked quietly.

"You want to fight with the likes of Yamato in this chaos?" Terasawa snorted derisively.

"Not hardly. My Pop didn't raise that big an idiot. This space's a mess for a mobile suit but its sheer suicide for a ship. And if we can't get close enough to support our suits Strike-Freedom will have them for lunch."

"Got that right." Ilene replied grimly. "And while I wouldn't mind seeing some of our dear colleagues lose a lot of their suits, I don't plan to waste any of ours helping that along."

"Three colonies on the Cosmos bastards list and the first two are worthless." Peters shook her head savagely. "This Mendel place better be viable or the whole deal is gonna come crashing down."

"I know. Set up a course to Mendel Colony. Oh, and be sneaky about it. There are still active scavenger teams working there. I don't want any of them to notice us. It wouldn't be much of an ambush if they were warned early now would it?" Captain Terasawa sat back with a small snarl. "And that supply transport he promised us damn well better hadn't be early either."

"I'm on it Captain."

Ilene hunkered down in her chair, a brooding expression on her face that assured she would not be disturbed for anything but a serious reason. Curie Colony had been dedicated to human and Coordinator medical research. It had also been one of the fully dead colonies and the scavengers had torn into it ruthlessly. She could only wonder what they'd been looking for. Considering the mess they'd made, she vindictively hoped they hadn't found it.

It was a hopeless site for combat. Not even the Debris Belt had that much small, dangerous trash in such a limited area. The colony was still more or less intact but it wouldn't be much longer. Almost all of the sectional cables were loose and gaps were beginning to develop between some sections. It would be coming apart at the seams in the next decade and would be in at least eight separate pieces in perhaps twice that time.

Goddard Colony here had been oriented to space exploration and physics. While it was as dead as Curie, it hadn't been the target of the same low caliber of scavenger. Yes, there were too many of the section cables swinging loose but the structure still had integrity and could likely be salvaged and returned to service if someone was determined enough.

In fact, from what she'd seen so far, several of these wrecks could be reclaimed. No wonder the Alliance wanted them back. It would be a lot less expensive to repair one of these than build from scratch. And they didn't have a lot of stray cash to waste these days. She grinned evilly. They would have less before she was done with them. And the PLANTs would be gone altogether.

She suddenly had high hopes for the conditions around Mendel Colony. Not that she expected them to be good by any means but the simple fact that there had been scavenger teams on the place almost continuously for the last four years meant it was at least accessible. That promised much better surroundings than either of the two they'd just had to discard. After all, that much ship traffic didn't come and go if things were too dangerous. Her mood began to rise as they headed for the colony, the only one on the list that still had working life support. Maybe she'd get a chance to blow it to hell in the ambush. No point in leaving it for the Alliance in any better shape than she absolutely had to now was there?


	11. Chapter 11

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 11 The trip approaches it's end. The shooting begins. Another old friend learns about the visitors.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Sally Po sat at the controls of a mobile suit carrier plane waiting for permission to take off from Singapore Air and Space Port. She hadn't intended to fly any of the equipment for Ly's group in herself but the pilot she'd intended to send had gone swimming in the local waters yesterday and cut his foot on coral. Unfortunately, the wound had gone septic within hours as coral cuts sometimes did, especially cuts that happened off major harbors where pollution was still a problem.

So here she was, waiting with what patience she could muster for her turn to come up. And while a good many people still looked askance at the old planes, the many new uses the Preventers had put them to had made them common enough to cause no more than muttering whenever one dropped into or lifted out of a major port like Singapore. At least no one automatically assumed there were mobile suits aboard one any more. In fact, that was the last thing anyone was likely to assume would be on a carrier with Preventer markings. It did make secretly moving actual mobile suits much easier.

The four Serpents she had aboard were the last ones that had to be delivered. It was a small miracle. She had been able to find the necessary assets to set up the mobile suit training facility in India and China, close enough to the hidden base to get them onsite in only forty-eight hours. The first team there had made another stunning discovery. The place had been left fully stocked. Everything from boots to Band-Aids, insect repellent to rations and everything in between was still there. Most of it was still good too. All she had to do was send in the people and the mobile suits. So she had.

Her turn eventually arrived and Sally roared off into the slowly darkening sky. Officially, she was taking supplies to a small base the Preventers maintained up on the Tibetan Plateau to keep an eye on smuggling of all kinds that used the rugged Himalayan Mountains as cover, route, and sometimes, point of supply. And she did have materials for the base aboard. It was just that there was going to be this short stop before she got there that she'd neglected to mention when she'd filed her flight plan.

She'd really rather have done this by daylight. A co-pilot wouldn't have come amiss either. But the surveillance satellite system was slowly being rebuilt and unfortunately, this part of the world now had uncomfortably thorough coverage by day and no backup pilot in the area had been cleared by security yet. Both of the known trustworthy men from Singapore had already been sent to the base. So she got to fly the fabled 'Hump' alone, in the dark. Lucky her.

Cruising altitude was going to be 37,000 ft. and she wasted no time climbing to it. Mt. Everest was just over 29,000, this gave her a safety margin of 8000 feet if she were to stray so far off course as to cross the highest peak on the planet. Considering that she wasn't supposed to come within three hundred miles of it, she didn't expect to hit anything up here. Reaching cruising altitude also let her set the autopilot, saving her own strength and stamina for the landing and takeoff she'd be making an a few hours.

The plane was crossing into Tibetan airspace when the high-security comm crackled to life. "Colonel Po, do you read me?"

Sally sat up with a sharp jerk. That was Une! She grabbed the mike for the special comm from it's hook on the co-pilot's side of the cockpit and replied.

"Po here. I read you General."

"Sally, L-2 has revolted. They have declared independence and announced the arrest of all 'foreign' agents. The Preventer station is under siege at this time. No shots fired yet but given the nature of the demands, they will be if our people can't get out of there."

"I take it something is blocking the dock entry?"

"A pair of loaded civilian shuttles." Une agreed in frustrated anger.

She nodded sharply, forgetting in her concentration that Une couldn't see her. "My advice, for whatever you want to take it for, is to get hold of that contact of Maxwell's, get everyone out of uniform, and have him sneak them out as fast as he can."

"I've already done that. It will take the man several hours to get everyone out safely. I don't think we have those hours."

"We get whomever we can out and deal with what happens when it happens." Sally growled. "I'll be arriving at Plateau Base in a few hours, we can discuss this on a secure line then."

"No." Une said shortly. "The language of the revolt changed half an hour ago and now indicates the real situation is the one we've discussed. You have the fuel to reach our main station in Mongolia. Head there now. Une out."

Sally set the mike back on its hanger very slowly. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was labored. Yes, she'd known it was coming, but that didn't make the actual arrival of the Crimson Dawn's so-called Rational Revolution any less jarring. She wanted to spend about twenty minutes calling them every dirty name she knew in every language she spoke. It was too bad that she didn't have the time to waste on it. She took a deep breath, exhaled violently, and forced every thought but those dedicated to survival to the back of her mind.

A quick hand flipped her id transponder off. That same hand toggled a switch that would toss radar countermeasures all over this part of the sky. She turned the auto-pilot off and began to carefully lose altitude until she was flying only a few hundred feet above the land below, a height barely adequate to keep her from striking one of the local peaks. Only then did she alter her heading, grateful beyond measure that she was less than an hour from the hidden base.

Thirty-nine minutes later, her radar gave a single ping. She stared ahead, straining to see the runway she knew would be inadequately outlined in nothing more than dim red lights. Three minutes after she'd heard the warning ping, she suddenly saw the lights materialize out of the darkness before her. Her landing instruments suddenly came alive as well, the base having activated the minimal equipment to allow her to make a radar guided landing.

It was a good landing, meaning she was going to walk away from it. Damn! This runway was in terrible shape given how much she'd bounced around rolling down it. But she was here now and as the main runway lights died behind her, the taxiway lights came on to guide her.

She rolled almost up to the face of a cliff before she turned the plane so it was tail first to the rock. The engines whined down and died. As they did, the rock behind her opened.

The hanger was huge and even more poorly lit than the runway. A low, flat vehicle dashed out to position itself in front of the nose wheel. It locked onto the wheel's strut and surprisingly quickly pushed the massive aircraft into the hanger. The instant it stopped, she heard and felt the thumps as ground connections were made. The phone rang seconds later.

"Colonel Po! It's Lieutenant Ly! Welcome Ma'am!" The young man's voice bubbled happily in her ear as she picked it up.

"It's good to be here Lieutenant. But I don't have time for pleasantries. I have equipment that needs to be unloaded immediately."

"Yes Ma'am, I know. We have everything ready to unload the plane just as soon as you open the rear hatch."

Sally reached over and activated the toggles that would let the men and machines aboard to off-load her cargo. "Hatch activated."

She stepped out of the cockpit to watch as the base personnel swarmed the Serpent suits and hustled them off the plane. As the last one began to roll off, a tall man stepped around the moving mobile suit. Sally straightened, instantly recognizing an old friend. Johnny Morgan had been part of the North American branch of the Resistance during the Eve Wars. He was Colonel Morgan now, and one of the four other senior Preventer officers who Une had trusted to see the messages from J and Heero. And he didn't belong here.

"Hello Johnny." She smiled to cover her confusion. "What brings you here?"

"Une's orders." The handsome black man replied quietly. "I understand you were about half an hour out of Singapore when this broke. Apparently the General decided since you were already headed this way she would wait to tell you last. In the mean time, she's gotten everyone else moving. I was heading from Beijing to Lahore so she diverted me here. Saito's someplace in North America, Rojas is out in the Colonies, Bao's in China, and the General herself is going to ground someplace in Europe."

"The rest of the Preventers?" Sally asked grimly.

"Everyone we can trust has been called into one of the safe havens. Everyone we hope we can trust has been sent to a second level haven. The rest," The man just shook his head. "The rest are going to be putting up the good fight for us."

"That's fairly disgusting." She said unhappily.

"Yes it is. But if we don't save the troops we can trust first, this resistance will fall apart before it can even start. Believe me, we'll save as many as we can."

"I know. That's one of the best things about the Preventers, they don't leave their own behind." She sighed. "Has the shooting started anywhere yet?"

"We've lost contact with a just over half dozen small posts, three of the space bases, and a few teams aren't reporting in. We don't know if they've been fired on, turned coat, or are just keeping quiet until they can figure out what's going on and whose side they want to be on."

"I see. So what do we do now?"

"Now? Well, now we empty this plane of everything useful, reload it with materials from the stores here that aren't usable and send it out to crash a good way from here."

"What?" Sally stared at him.

"We have to have the plane accounted for Sally. It has to go down and burn with a cargo aboard. The pilot can bail out, they'd expect that, but the plane itself must be found. If you think about it for a minute you'll see why for yourself."

She blinked, then shook her head. Of course, it was a loose end. Crimson Dawn knew she'd taken it from Singapore. They might even have intercepted the brief conversation with Une. They'd found spies planted inside the Preventers in some surprising places, she knew they hadn't found them all yet. And Colonel Sally Po would be someone the Dawn bunch would want dead. So the plane needed to be accounted for. If it wasn't, they'd start hunting for the secret base where it had vanished into hiding. And considering where she'd dropped off the radar, that would pretty much lead them right here.

She gave Morgan a grudging nod. He simply smiled tightly. The base personnel stripped the plane and reloaded it in a bit under forty-five minutes. Sally was in the control tower when it took off.

"He's going to be fine." Colonel Morgan said before she could even ask about the pilot. "Zhou lives in Nanking. He'll break the fuel line somewhere just before the edge of the western desert and bail out. The auto-pilot should take the plane a minimum of thirty miles and could take it a couple hundred before the engine fire forces the plane out of the sky. He'll destroy the 'chute when he lands and walk home."

"Do his people know he's a Preventer?"

"They've been told he washed out in his final tests. He's been working undercover for us for a couple years."

"So they don't know. Why would he go home now?" She asked.

Johnny shrugged. "His business partner is missing. Which is the truth by the way. The man disappeared with no notice almost two weeks ago. Zhou's been working off and on with an exceptionally talented freelancer for about a year. We've both been trying to hint to him that we'd like him on full time but he shies off. I say 'him' but I'm actually not sure about that. I don't know if Kim is a very boyish girl or a very girlish boy; he can be either completely convincingly. About all I am sure of is he's probably somewhere around twenty, very skinny, quite short, and the hair is his own. But what color it really is or his eyes truly are isn't something I'd be willing to testify to."

Morgan's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "And sometime, probably during the Eve Wars to judge by their age, he got cut up real bad. I only saw him once and that was a half second glimpse but he was a mess of serious scars all across his back and upper legs. It looked like he got caught in an explosion."

Sally found her eyes widening. "Quiet, soft spoken, rather deep voice with a tendency towards speaking in a monotone and a great deal stronger than he looks?"

"You know the kid?"

"You got a picture of this 'Kim'?"

Colonel Morgan fished in his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a picture of himself and what looked like half an orphanage worth of street children, all smiling at the camera. A Buddhist monk and three nuns were with the children. So were a half dozen teens. One, kneeling between two small girls, holding them gently, was unmistakably Heero Yuy. The hair was neatly braided in Duo Maxwell's style and he was wearing male clothing. She was unsurprised when Johnny pointed straight at him and said, "That's Kim."

"Yeah, I know him." Sally smiled. "Silly idiot self-destructed his Gundam once. That's how he got so cut up. I had the devil's own time finding it and getting it back to him after Merquise repaired it."

"His what?!?"

She looked up at her friend and grinned. "Crimson Dawn has his picture so you might as well know who he is too. After all, he may need a friend some day. Meet Heero Yuy, Gundam Oh One."

* * *

The cargo bay was one huge, open space. Heero could see the slots in the deck below and above where heavy dividers could be mounted to cut this up into sections, sections no one had bothered with for this trip. After all, there wasn't enough cargo here to make it necessary. The two smallish sections that seemed to be permanently installed up here by the hatchway leading into the cabin spaces hadn't even been used. It had been easier to just spread the pallets out in a single layer and fasten them down.

He jumped over the railing, taking advantage of the very low gravity conditions that existed out here in the bay to drop leisurely to the deck. No one came out here, they had no reason to. It made a good place to 'vanish' to while he let his mind work on internalizing the meeting yesterday. He'd been here for hours after it had broken up, come back after dinner, and rather suspected he might return after dinner again tonight. There was a lot to think about.

He landed lightly and, moving carefully to avoid bouncing over everything, worked his way into one of the dimmer corners among the pallets before he wedged himself into a reasonably comfortable position so he wouldn't accidentally move about in the low gravity, tugging the long jacket he wore against the cool of the largely empty hold into a loose and easy fit. Only then did he begin the simple breathing exercises that were the key to basic meditation. He had nothing elaborate planned here. All he wanted to do was clear and calm his conscious mind so the subconscious could work without the distracting input. He'd cleared up a lot of it already, he knew that because he was so much less nervous around Relena and the others, but he wasn't done and he wanted to be as far along as he possibly could be before he encountered J again.

All his years of ruthless training to control mind and body paid off here, that part of him that could not be taken off sentry duty reduced its reports to a whispery thread as all else slipped into a timeless 'elsewhere'. He was aware only of peace and a dim, familiar gratitude to the cheerful Buddhist monk who had managed to get him to understand that he _did_ have a center and he _could_ find it. A last idle thought before all controlled thought dissipated wondered what J would make of a Heero Yuy who practiced self-control through meditation and self-acceptance instead of denial and self-suppression.

An unknown time later, Heero became aware of the sentry telling him he wasn't completely alone any longer. But it recognized the others present and did not report danger. He acknowledged the input and slipped back into the peace of his center. Nor did he come fully out of it when the sentry reported physical movement had begun around him. But he snapped instantly back into the here-and-now when something jarred the pallet he was using as the left side of his wedge.

Zechs and Duo were standing by a handtruck, forks under the pallet just beyond the one he was using, staring at him in something rather like shock. He managed not to grin. He'd come out of one of these sessions once in front of a mirror so he had an idea of what they were seeing. Only this time not only did he likely have a peaceful expression on his face, he had all this hair that had drifted around his head in the small breeze of the air circulation Quatre had going out here to keep their supplies from freezing. Had to be one real strange sight to people used to the wartime Yuy.

"Ah, 'Ro? You ok?" Duo asked cautiously.

"I'm fine Duo."

"I wasn't aware you practiced meditation." Zechs said calmly.

"Something I learned a couple years ago." Heero admitted as he stood with the care the gravity required. "I've found it more helpful than denying the existence of emotions."

Duo's eyes widened. "What minor god got that through your solid skull?"

Heero gave him a look that lacked amusement. Maxwell, immune to his death glare, didn't even notice this one. Zechs had a curious eyebrow up too.

He shrugged and decided it was nothing that needed to be a secret. "A Buddhist monk I met in Hawaii."

He looked around and realized he'd been sitting longer than he'd first thought, and that the two of them had been busy. Quatre had described the space in a 'Clydesdale' as big enough to hold six Gundams stacked like logs. What he'd forgotten to mention was that you could put three of those stacks in one with room left over on all sides. The cargo aboard wasn't just for their hideaway, wherever it was. In fact most of it was for the Winner offices and shops on L4.

Duo and Zechs had been moving some of that Winner cargo, putting it into the permanently mounted racks near the entry hatch. Now it looked like they were dragging the supplies earmarked for the safehouse back into the vacated space. Actually, it looked like they were almost done. There were three lone pallets still sitting in the area they'd cleared by the loading hatch.

Heero's eyes suddenly narrowed. There were some very large cargo straps locked into place on the deck in that space now. And they were placed in a way that indicated two different items were going to be secured. His eyes abruptly widened as the area and sizes clicked. No, it wasn't possible!

"That took eighteen seconds." Duo announced smugly. "You owe me fifty bucks Merquise."

"Not yet I don't." Zechs denied. "Not until we confirm what that look means."

"What mobile suits are we picking up? Where have you been hiding them?" Heero snapped.

Zechs sighed. "All right, now I owe you fifty."

Duo grinned and turned to a fuming Heero, his grin disappearing instantly. "We aren't picking up mobile suits 'Ro. Well, in a way we are, but not really."

"We're picking up wrecks." Zechs spoke up before Heero could grab Duo and shake the information out of him.

"Wrecks? Why bother with wrecks?" Heero glared at them.

"Because we're gonna need mobile suits to fight with!" Duo snapped. "And since J and G aren't dead, they can fix 'em for us."

"That's not what I meant." Heero sighed. "You're a salvager Duo, I'm sure you know where there are units in good condition out here. Why wrecks?"

"Oh, yeah, 'cause all the stuff still in good shape is Oz junk. We're recovering Gundams."

He looked at Zechs, who just nodded stiffly. Gundams. What Gundams? He looked at Zechs again and realized one of them had to be Epyon. He turned back to Duo.

"Epyon and what other Gundam? I don't remember any others being unaccounted for."

"Just one." Zechs replied staring at the far hatch but obviously seeing something very different.

"Heero, all the Gundams, even Mercurius and Vayeate, were either destroyed where people saw it or had enough of the pieces recovered to satisfy everyone that they were gone." Duo said quietly. "But just before that last fight over the _Libra_, when Khushrenada challenged Zechs here to that duel and he said no. . . ."

"I fired the _Libra_'s main cannon at him. I missed because Lady Une slammed the Wing into his Tall Geese II and knocked it out of the beam." Zechs said harshly.

"Wing?" Heero stared. "Wing is the other Gundam?"

"Yeah." Duo said softly. "It's pretty shot up, that main cannon of _Libra_'s had a nasty punch, but it's fixable. And I found its buster rifle too. I've been scavenging gundanium wherever I could. I've got that stashed with the suit. Well, all but a few small boxes I still had stored at the shop. There's more than enough to repair Wing, maybe enough to fix Epyon too."

"Wing." Heero stared at nothing, no longer seeing the two standing with him or the hold of the massive shuttle he was standing in. A kaleidoscope of images tumbled through his mind. Relena, standing unafraid as he slammed the shield into the wreckage beside her, just missing her body. Duo, scornfully telling him he couldn't repair his machine without parts. The Oz shuttle, split in two, fractions of a second before it exploded when he fell into Khushrenada's trap and killed the Alliance peace faction. Relena once more, standing between himself and Duo, trying to prevent Duo from shooting him again. Tall Geese, standing back, waiting to see what he was going to do just as the self-destruct activated.

"Yeah, Wing." Duo said, breaking into his tumbling thoughts and giving them a point in the here-and-now to fix on again. "It isn't what you'd customized the Wing Zero into but it's a lot better than some Virgo or Taurus would ever be."

"This is why you had Quatre call J and tell him we were going to be running late." Heero realized.

"Yep. It's why we suddenly had that little 'thruster problem' yesterday too. We had to have an excuse to get behind some of the junk out here that will block the Preventer scanner net from seeing what we're doing. Well that and I wanted to be well away from the _Lucky Dog_ too. I like Mike and his crew but I don't trust them. The _Dog_ has a tendency to be lucky at the expense of others. They can't see us from here either." Duo nodded sharply, eyes mission-keen.

"Rashid will be reporting the thruster issue as under control in about half an hour." Zechs said quietly. "We'll be at the pickup point by then. I find it amusing that Maxwell and I reached the same conclusion on the ideal place to hide damaged Gundams quite independently. If we move quickly, we should be able to load in about an hour and a half. When the suits are secured down, Rashid will report the thruster as repaired and we'll head back to our intended course."

"So, what ya say Hee-chan? Ya wanna help us move these last pallets?"

He never got a chance to answer. At that moment the hatch into the cabin spaces slammed open. Quatre came diving through.

"Heero! Duo! Zechs! It's started!"

* * *

They'd had a day and a half more than they'd expected to work on the hideout for the boys. G was quite pleased with the results and he knew J was pretty happy about them too. All of the supplies were over now and properly stored. He'd had a chance to check the living quarters and had found they were fully stocked. Most of the supplies were going to have to be trashed as they'd deteriorated over time but the bedding, linens and towels were all still in excellent condition.

This was good enough. But this morning J had had one of his more inspired brainstorms and G had found himself walking the Heavyarms across the barrier. Not only did the portal open wide enough, it held perfectly steady as that much mass crossed.

Moreover, having Heavyarms allowed G to reset the mobile suit bays to hold the Gundams instead of the construction suits they seemed to be set up for. Not knowing how the boys would want to use the space, and having the time to kill, he'd reset all ten of the bays. It didn't take all that long to do when you had a mobile suit with the power of a war machine to do the lifting and replacing of the heavy beaming.

Now four of the five Gundams were over there, resting in their new racks. Only Wing Zero remained. And he really didn't want to be the one to move it. Those stupid wings were surprisingly sturdy but they weren't sturdy enough to make him happy at the thought of what might happen if he bumped something wrong with one. Yuy would not be pleased to find someone had already broken his newly rebuilt suit. Considering just how not pleased that young man was likely to be simply because he and J weren't dead like they were supposed to be, well, it would be unwise in the extreme to add to the probable unpleasantness.

It was just as well that they'd gotten as much done as they had. He'd barely set the Deathscythe Hell into its new bay when J had tersely ordered him to come back immediately. L-2 had exploded into open revolt. And from what little data was getting out, it looked like they'd caught the local Preventer base by surprise and had them bottled up. J was watching the unfolding situation right now while he began the final preparations for the process of shutting down most of their systems here.

"G!" The shout came from their comm station.

He didn't quite run, for one thing the gravity was too low to make it viable. But he did move as quickly as he could. That tone indicated very, very serious trouble.

"What's happened?" He snapped as soon as he was close enough to make out the screen and the obviously excited news anchor on it.

"There's been a change of revolutionary leadership." J shook his head. "I thought this came up too quickly. It looks like a much smaller group on L-2, the one all the attention was being diverted to for so long by the way, is the one that made the first move after all. They were the one's who took over the colony, not Crimson Dawn."

"Ah, but that's a challenge the Dawn can't afford to ignore." G noted grimly.

"They didn't. Now they're the 'liberators' of the colony."

"Ha!" G could only shake his head, unable to see any real good in the new situation. "They forced their hand then. This is going to get very ugly very quickly. Unless our sense of timing is completely gone, the Dawn isn't really ready yet. They're going to have to substitute either persuasion or immediate slaughter for the intimidation of overwhelming force they were going to present. Unless I misread them badly, they'll choose slaughter. They haven't much use for anyone who disagrees with them and somewhat less for anyone who will stand up to them."

"What few pictures got out of the colony before they seized control were pretty bloody." J agreed drily. "And one bit of video showed Dawn troops shooting prisoners. It was quite interesting in a way. I could clearly see at least two in Preventer uniforms among the men they were cutting down. All the rest seemed to be wearing that blue jacket the first group was using."

G grimaced. It wasn't unexpected but there were some confirmations it would be nicer to just never have. Damn it! The boys hadn't even managed to get here before this all exploded on them. Who knew where the loyalties of the current Preventer team lay? And they had control of the local area scanners too. This was going from bad to worse quickly.

"Anything else I need to know?"

J shrugged sourly. "The leader of this so-called Rational Revolution has issued a statement. Once you strip out all the fancy verbiage, it's an order to surrender all combat capable forces at once or they will be attacked and destroyed. There are the usual twaddles about regretting possible civilian loss of life in combat zones and making sure everyone understands those people won't die if the troops have the brains to surrender."

G glared at the screen. "Ah yes, the standard disclaimer of responsibility. Every would-be ruler of the universe says that just before they go out and slaughter half a city."

"He was standing in front of at least five squadrons of mobile suits of a type I've never seen before when he said it." J replied drily.

"Ah! Any demonstrations or just menacing looks?"

"Looks only." J shook his head. "These people aren't quite stupid enough to give things away before the first battle. Ha! There! See what I mean?"

G turned instantly to the screen, ignoring the crowd in the foreground dressed in a wild variety of colors and large masks. He and J would analyze the speech itself later. It was the mobile suits that he needed to see right now.

His immediate impression was of someone going for intimidation through sheer ugliness. These things made the old Leo suits look like things of delicate beauty. They were squat and massive to the eye although he knew the place where this was being broadcast from and those suits had to be at least fifteen meters tall given where they placed against some of their surroundings. If a surface wasn't an actual ball joint, it was probably flat and met the next surface at a hard angle. They had to have a footprint at least two-thirds the size of a mobile suit mounted on a hover platform. It instantly raised questions about why they needed legs that massive. The heads were as blocky and angular as the bodies and the hands looked clumsy, something he rather doubted they actually were though.

The squadrons they showed the public here alternated between suits with beam rifles of some sort and those armed with double machine guns quite similar to, if larger than, those the Mariemaia Serpents carried. Each suit looked like it mounted a beam saber over the left shoulder as well while the right played host to the three discs of the Mercurius defense system. All in all, G had to allow that they made a formidable first impression.

Then he looked at the Mercurius system again and gave it an evil grin. "They're in for a real shock aren't they?"

"If that's what they're basing their primary defense on, yes they are." J's smile was a perfect match for his.

"It can be useful, this business of being thought dead."

"Plays holy hell with the supply channels though." J grumped. "And we won't even go into what it's done to the financial end of all this."

"I wonder when we'll be able to get a decent combat analysis of them."

"We'll get it as soon as Une does. I don't know how long that line is going to stay up but the data will be invaluable as long as it lasts."

G nodded, he understood the danger the woman faced and how heavily the odds favored the attackers in this case. For while the Preventers had bases and supplies scattered everywhere, the locations of almost all of those sites were public knowledge. And only a small handful of the major ones were defended by weapons capable of taking on mobile suits. If Crimson Dawn had enough of those things, they would be running the show very quickly.

He hissed silently in frustration. Screaming would be a better stress relief but it might shock J. He didn't need his colleague questioning his sanity at this point. As he glared around the space rather than stare at the currently triumphant enemy, a set of readouts caught his attention. He blinked, but they didn't change.

"J! Do we have any power issues in here?" He asked urgently, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"No, why, what's wrong?" The other man swung around, instantly responding to the tone of his voice.

"Look at the board tracking the Preventer systems!"

He did, and blinked. G began to realize he had a huge grin on his own face. They were down! All across the board, something had shut down every single one of the Preventer scanners in this entire sector! It didn't matter if it had been done to help or hinder the Dawn or even if it was just some kind of power failure. What counted was there would be no record of the activity of the _Chariot of Fire_ until those systems came back online.

"When did this happen?" J muttered eagerly as he hurried over to the readout screens to find the time indicator that would tell them how long the scanners had been off.

They both looked at the time, and found something interesting. The systems had not failed at one time. No, they had been deliberately shut down by the look of this. The longer range equipment had been turned off first and each successive piece down had had a shorter range until whoever it was had apparently turned off the base perimeter grid as well. It had all been done over about a ten minute period with the very last of the systems crashing almost twenty minutes ago. So the long range equipment had been silenced for a full half hour. Where had the _Chariot_ been?

Looking at their own logs showed the massive shuttle slowly coming to a relative halt near a chunk of debris about twice its own size. The logs indicated there had been a number of firings of the 'damaged' thruster while they were there. All in all, it looked like they'd gotten almost dangerously close for a little over an hour before the shuttle had finally engaged all thrusters and slowly moved away. It was almost back on its planned course. The Preventer net would have the record of the near miss over by that lump of scrap and the recovery and departure.

He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. If they came back on in the next minute, the big shuttle would quite clearly have been holding the course it had been on when the record broke off; nothing suspicious there. And the shuttle was scheduled to use the one known working bay here to test their overhauled docking port, so that was covered. But if they stayed off-line another two hours until the _Chariot_ could get here, then they could unload the cargo directly into the hanger next to the suit repair bay before the ship moved over to play with the docking test. All that would be necessary was for the pilot to swing a bit wide, and carefully push the load out the rear hatch. The bulk of the base would hide the activity.

J rigged a hasty alarm to let them know immediately if any of the mid to long range scanners were turned back on. A coded message to the _Chariot_ gave them the information and new instructions. Then they dressed in standard space suits and climbed into small, highly maneuverable construction craft. Both mounted a set of grasping arms ideal for handling pallets. Only when J was satisfied that both little 'doodle bugs' were fully operational did he seal the inner doors and open a hatchway that, from the outside, looked completely sealed. They slipped out to wait for their guests.

* * *

Lacus Clyne studied the report from the ZAFT L-4 sector command. A patrol in force consisting of three Nazca and a Laurasia class had encountered Captain Terasawa's three ships near the Mendel Colony. They had been in pursuit of a civilian supply freighter from Aube. By demonstrating instant aggression, the squadron commander had managed to drive the pirates off. Apparently they weren't willing to risk damage for a single freighter.

She listened with half an ear to Deputy Defense Chairman Snodgrass as he delivered an oral version of this. It was interesting to hear where Defense wanted the emphasis placed in this small incident. They definitely did not want to go into how someone as wanted as Terasawa could get that close to the Mendel Colony undetected! Which was quite the question in and of itself too.

The Colony was still semi-functional with the power plant keeping heat, light, and at least basic life support functions going. Air quality had been terrible although that had gotten better since Murakumo and his Serpent Tail had temporarily headquartered there. They'd changed a lot of filters, for their own convenience of course, but it had significantly cleaned up the air for everyone. Serpent Tail had also gone into the Colony's mainframe and brought a lot of the security systems back online. No one had objected at the time.

However, some months after the mercenaries had departed; an accident at one of the scavenger camps had shaken the entire colony. When others had arrived to check they found the camp a complete loss and all of the team dead. Investigation determined they'd brought illegal explosives into the colony, apparently to gain entry into some sealed area. No one would ever know for sure. What they had done in their unwitting self-destruction though was jar a lot of connections throughout the colony. Some of those had been in the mainframe 'heart' of it.

So now everyone was occasionally bombarded with unexpected broadcasts from Mendel's security network. The broadcasts lasted anywhere from a few seconds to, in one memorably frustrating incident, almost an hour. They came out on the 'all colonies' emergency band too. This meant they couldn't be ignored and it wasn't possible to shift existing services off that band. Two separate efforts to fix the problem had been made but so far, unless one was willing to take the mainframe completely off-line, there had been no solution. Since taking the mainframe down would either kill what was left of the colony or require whoever did it to fix the unit properly, no one had been willing to assume the responsibility.

In the midst of all this, the Mendel Colony security nets continued their erratic workings. It had been determined early on that none of the small colony defense weapons were still functional but the scanner and tracking functions Serpent Tail had reactivated were fully online and being recorded by the system. Moreover they were always supposed to set off a siren when they detected hostile ships. One of Kira's early suggestions had been to send someone to program that mainframe with the recognition data for every known pirate and unaccounted-for LOGOS ship. The Council had liked that one so it had been done. Which brought one back again to the question of how Terasawa got so close with no alarm sounding.

This did settle one question in her mind though. The first set of the new monitors was due from Dr. Koudelka tomorrow. At least some of those were going out to Mendel. There had been no pirate activity in the area for months. Now they had Terasawa sneaking in and at least two others reported to have passed through the area in the last few weeks. She didn't like this at all.

She especially didn't like it because it seemed to be corresponding a bit too well with the inflexible insistence on going there from the Alliance Foreign Minister. It wasn't the man himself that bothered her any more either. Lacus eyed the report in her hands thoughtfully but it wasn't what she was actually seeing. Rather it was a chatty letter from Miriallia Haw that occupied her inner eye.

The _Archangel_ had dropped out of sight shortly after the fighting ended. Since ZAFT Intelligence had reported several of her crew had returned to work at Morgenroete in Aube, she was likely back in a hidden hanger, a reserve held silently again against a chance of deadly need. This had put Mir back out working as a freelance photographer once more. Mir had a tendency to share what she picked up with her friends. Especially when she didn't like a situation. And Mir, it seemed, sincerely didn't like the woman who was Pearson's acknowledged mistress.

Lacus had no opinion of the woman herself. She hadn't met her after all. Like most women who reached such positions with men of power, she was careful to stay in the background. Unlike most though, this Marcia DeLogriens took it to the point of near-invisibility to everyone outside the Minister's staff.

She hadn't quite managed that kind of invisibility to Mir however. The letter was very explicit. Mir'd photographed the woman almost two dozen times in the last few months in the company of people known to have had associations with the now defunct LOGOS. That in and of itself meant nothing of course. It could be completely innocent. But somehow it was hard to think of innocence when the man currently believed to be the new head of Blue Cosmos was in at least a third of her pictures.

She had other pictures of the woman with several others who were widely believed to have connections to the growing pirate threat. It seemed the Foreign Minister's mistress moved in dangerous circles. The truly fascinating bit of data though was the absence of the man from any meeting or party where the woman had met these people. It suggested a very old fashioned but effective means of influence had been found by people the PLANTs could least afford to have it.

Councilor Snodgrass had finally reached the end of his presentation. Lacus refocused her attention on the meeting, watching without appearing to be doing any such thing, for any sign that this was going to set off a major incident with the radicals. But the indignation seemed to be fairly evenly divided between all the factions of the Supreme Council this time.

The consensus allowed Lacus to direct the Council's attention to the pirates and away from Mendel itself. She wanted them all on board when she began the distribution of the new scanners. And she didn't want to have to sit through another hours long debate on who should fix the Mendel computer either. Fortunately, everyone seemed quite ready to go pirate hunting. She sighed quietly as Snodgrass gave a very brief update on that issue, wishing it was all as simple as the man was trying to make it out to be.

There was no dinner after this meeting. She'd managed to schedule it early enough in the day to insure the Councilors went back to their offices instead of out to dine when the meeting ended. In as much as she'd arranged for a rather select group to wait for her in her private office, she was not disappointed when the rather abbreviated discussion on pirates ended up with little more than a formal condemnation to be issued. The Defense Chair's office would post a complete report on what ships, mobile suits, weapons, and materials were available for this fight by the end of next week. That was the information that was going to matter. The pirates and whoever was backing them weren't going to be impressed with simply being formally bad-mouthed by the PLANTs.

Finally allowed to return to her own office, Lacus breathed a silent sigh of relief. The meeting had been tense, and could have degenerated into a shouting match between the moderates and the radicals of the Council so easily. It took very little to set people off right now. She understood that. The PLANTs were weaker than they'd ever been since the founding of the ZAFT. Given recent history, it required zero imagination to grasp that most of the arguing was not true difference but fear.

That fear worried her. Frightened people, even those normally very intelligent, did stupid things. Up to and including starting wars. And far too many of those frightened people had the idea this was all an Alliance plot locked firmly in their heads. Despite the information coming up from Aube, which she was sharing a good deal more freely than she really wanted to in her efforts to keep everyone calm, some of the Council simply would not let go of their favorite enemy to look for the new one.

They wanted it to be the Alliance. They knew and understood them, and weren't all that afraid to fight them. But an unknown danger, that was trying to push new buttons; buttons they would fight tooth and nail to avoid seeing pushed. There were a lot of emotionally exhausted individuals in positions of power in the PLANTs. They refused to see a new danger; they were too depleted to face one. Somehow, she had to get those psychologically worn out by war to dig into the mental reserves they no longer believed they had. If she couldn't, they would strike the wrong target, and leave the PLANTs open to the attacks of this still ill-defined fresh opponent.

Lacus let herself into her private office via the semi-secret door; only semi-secret because it was always known to the top staff of whomever was Council Chair but not to anyone else in the building. She found Kira dozing on the large couch and Yzak outright snoring in the high backed arm chair. Andy Waltfeld was nodding in a second overstuffed chair. Dearka was out like a light on the smaller couch. And the special guest was sitting quietly, eyes closed, in the comfortable chair beside Kira's couch. It looked like they'd all been waiting a while. Then her guest's eyes opened and Athrun smiled softly.

He glanced around with a small grin. "Looks like I'm the only one awake here."

"It's been a very busy week." Lacus told him quietly as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "It's good to see you again Athrun. How is Cagalli and everyone in Aube?"

"She's doing well." He said, clearly happy to be able to say it. "Her Council isn't always pleased to find itself dealing with someone as direct as she is but with so very many of them having openly worked with the Seirans, well, let's say she has leverage right now and she's not afraid to use it. Captain Ramius is back with Morgenroete and Commander La Flaga is right there with her. He's remembering more and more as time goes by. Unfortunately, a chunk of it is things he did while he thought he was Neo Roanoke. It doesn't seem like many of those memories are pleasant ones."

"I'm not surprised." Lacus said soberly. "I have not heard of anyone who was deeply involved with Phantom Pain who had good memories. Those people were almost as cruel to their own as they wanted to be to us."

Athrun shrugged, it wasn't a discussion he seemed to want to have. Considering how much he had to be hearing from Murrue, Aube Intelligence, and Mu himself, it was not a surprising reservation. She would make no effort to keep this conversational thread going.

"Uhm," Kira's voice came wearily from the couch. "Should we wake everyone up and have this meeting? I'd like to get to the part where we all go out for a pleasant dinner and we can't do that until we've gone over the data Athrun's brought. Oh, and Dr. Koudelka sent a small pallet load of things in boxes to my office this afternoon. Her note said you'd explain what they were for."

"We're awake." Yzak growled. "Have been all along."

Lacus forbore to mention his snoring of just a few moments ago. It wasn't worth getting him wound up. If he wanted to try to pretend he'd been awake, she'd let it slide. A soft touch on Athrun's shoulder kept him from saying anything either and Kira had been asleep himself so he couldn't know if the claim was false or not. Unfortunately, she didn't manage to get that message passed quite far enough.

"Yeah sure you were." Dearka mumbled. "Yzak, how many times do I have to tell you you snore when you sleep sitting up? Anyone with ears knows you were out of it."

"Don't get started on this." Andy said clearly before Yzak could react. "We have important ground to cover here and no time to waste while you badger your Commander, Mr. Elsman."

"Oh yeah, the new stuff. Dr. Koudelka told me about them." Dearka sat up slowly, yawing widely, and made a major mistake. "Those things in the boxes are sensors for spotting those strange mobile suits Kira."

Everyone froze. Either in shock, on Athrun's part, or dismay on everyone else's. Yzak came out of it first.

"Elsman!" He yelled in fury. "Were you born without brains?"

Dearka sat, white faced and silent. He was awake enough now to know what he'd just done. Athrun was still a friend but he wasn't a teammate any longer.

"What strange mobile suits?" Athrun asked tightly.

"Damn it!" Yzak threw himself out of his chair to stomp off to stare out the office window.

"Kira? What strange mobile suits?" Athrun repeated, clearly recognizing that this wasn't something anyone had intended to mention to him.

Kira sighed. "Lacus? This is really your call."

Unfortunately, he was right. She held up a hand to stop Athrun's questions as she thought quickly about this situation. It did not have to be a disaster, not if it was handled correctly. And she had been quite seriously considering telling Cagalli about the 'visit' from another space-time ever since it had happened. The ZAFT was stretched thin right now. They could cover most of space but not as thoroughly as circumstances required. Help from Aube's space based forces, few as they were, would be significant since, in the ruins of Heliopolis, they controlled a potentially viable area for the strangers to try to hide. If they did no more than watch their own backyard, it would take a lot of pressure off ZAFT's resources. That reality tipped her private scales; it was time to bring Aube into the picture.

She nodded sharply. "Athrun, I have something to show you. We'll discuss it after you've watched the piece enough times to begin to believe it might be real. Because I assure you, you aren't going to want to accept it."

"Got that right." Yzak snapped. "No one with any sense at all wants to believe it's real."

"Excuse me but just how strange are these mobile suits?" Athrun asked slowly, unmistakably getting the group message that the situation was very, very, unusual.

"We don't know." Kira told him thoughtfully. "An image of a mobile suit standing in a maintenance rack doesn't tell you enough and that's all we have to go on. Well, you'll see in a second here. I'll be interested in your opinion."

"Do you think I'll refuse to believe whatever this is?"

Kira just looked at him neutrally. "Watch it and decide. You don't need any more prejudicial input from me."

From the slight frown on his face, Lacus gathered that Kira's refusal to really answer the question bugged Athrun. Combine it with all these negative hints and she wouldn't be surprised if he asked who set up a joke that elaborate. She activated the large view-screen and entered the codes that would allow the secret tape to play. Then she watched Athrun's face carefully. But she saw nothing past a sudden widening of the eyes that was followed by a determinedly dispassionate expression that she knew could cover anything from great joy to complete rage.

She replayed the short clip five times, then took to freezing individual frames so he could get a stable look at the suits. Kira supplied the narration as needed and a few other guesses that had been floating around. He also told Athrun what he thought most likely. Athrun's face refused to change all the way through the show. She still had no idea what he might be thinking when she turned it off and brought the lights back up.

He sat unmoving for almost ten minutes, digesting what he'd seen and heard. When his head came up though, there was a very genuine concern in his emerald eyes. It didn't look like Athrun liked the look of this any more than Kira or Yzak had.

"I take it this is not a fake?" He asked hopefully, obviously praying someone would say it was.

"No." Kira killed that hope immediately. "Yzak and I went over to the warehouse a few days after the incident happened. We found a small sensor probe of some kind. Athrun, the tech proved to be completely unfamiliar. Whoever these guys are, they have an amazing degree of sophistication with radio equipment. And none of it is really that similar to ours. No, this is all too real."

"Any ideas on where to expect them to come through?"

"Not yet." Kira replied truthfully. "But that's what the new sensors are set up to watch for."

"We do not need this on top of the growing solidarity of the pirates." Athrun muttered angrily. "And those aren't mass production models either. I don't want to have to find out how they match up against Infinite Justice."

"Agreed!" Kira responded fervently. "One enemy at a time please!"

"We don't know that these guys will be enemies." Dearka pointed out. "And even if they are, there aren't likely to be more than six of them. We have enough state of the art machines to meet them."

"Technically, yes." Yzak said darkly. "But do you really want to fight six unknown 'Gundams' at equal odds? I don't! I want to meet an enemy that potentially dangerous with overwhelming force. And that we can not field. Not even if we combined our 'gundam class' suits with those of Aube. We can outnumber them slightly and that's it. That, my friend, is not good enough."

Athrun shook his head slowly. "It may not be good enough but unless they delay for several months and the peace conference ignores the topic of mobile suits completely, what we have now is all we are going to have when they get here. And for some reason I don't understand, I don't think they'll be taking months to get here."

"You too eh?" Andy eyed him sharply. "Well, that makes it unanimous among the pilots then. Everyone of you who've seen this all seem to believe they are coming here and coming soon. Its an interesting reaction. Especially since we have so little to go on."

Zala gave the older man a dark look. "They were stealing n-jammer cancellers. I can't imagine why they'd do that if they didn't intend to go someplace where n-jammers were a problem. Since they had to steal them, somehow I don't think that place is wherever it is they call home."

"Good point." Yzak said grudgingly.

Yes, it was. Lacus sighed. It was the same point Dean Koudelka had made too. All of them had spotted that immediately. So, getting the new probes distributed quickly was now a priority.

She sat back and watched and listened as Athrun's quick mind joined the rest as they teased the limited data to try to get all the information it could give them. He contributed the Aube Intelligence report he'd initially come to deliver as well. By the time the tea and snacks arrived an hour later, all of them were deep in a discussion that involved the known pirate threat as much as it did these mystery suits.

In the end, she gave Athrun two of the new probes. He agreed to get them set in place by the ruins of Heliopolis in the next few days. The rest would be going to the L-4 colonies and the dark side of the moon. Aube would monitor their reports and share their reports with the ZAFT. In return, ZAFT would share its reports from these probes with Aube. Everyone would be safer.

So why couldn't she be relieved to have the help? Why did she feel as though involving Aube had just brought the meeting closer? She had no answer for that, any more than Kira could tell her why he was so sure they were coming over here. Or why he expected them to arrive quite soon now. Lacus gave the image of the two and a half mobile suits in the alien hanger one more long look. But they did not offer her any answers.

They did, however, spur Lacus to another action. FAITH reported to the Council as a whole but they still were under the nominal direction of the Supreme Council Chair. She could make some decisions about the unit without asking the Council for approval. So while the gentlemen discussed pirates and alien threats, she formally approved the new, twelve mobile suit Team for FAITH. And she signed off on the creation of both the Command Duel and the two Blitz-Raiders while she was at it. She wrote it into their charter that they would have first chance at the newest equipment as ZAFT developed it as well. Yzak wanted overwhelming force but she couldn't give it to him. So she gave him what she could. The new, nuclear powered 'gundam class' suits and their Team were now legally official. She could only pray they would be enough.


	12. Chapter 12

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 12 The Rational Revolution hits a snag. The Pilots reunite with the Gundams. A Promise is rethought. And then they move into the new digs.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

The Sun stalked into the meeting room and took his place at the head of the table. He was next to exhausted and very, very angry; characteristics he shared with most of the others here. The Solar Assembly was now in session. The Sun fully anticipated this being a both noisy and dangerously divisive meeting. But they were going to have to deal with the situation and they couldn't afford any more stupid moves. _Someone_ was going to have to be taught not to make them.

For several moments the masked members of the ruling body of the Rational Revolution just glared at each other through the eyeholes in their disguising headgear. Very quickly, those glares began to center on one individual. That one was glaring back but had to divide it too many ways for it to be effective. The Sun laid a silent bet with himself as to who would start the ball rolling.

Seconds later, he won it as Venus sat up straighter than ever and asked poisonously, "What the hell happened today, Jupiter? I thought you had a grip on their leash. You know damn good and well that we weren't ready to move yet."

"No shit!" Mars snarled. "We're a hundred mobile suits short of the lowest limit we set for action! And now you've committed us to a real war. The Preventers are strong enough to make a serious stand against what we have on hand. None of our forces are trained enough yet either! Most of the new ground control units were set up last week! Two thirds aren't even up to strength! What maggot ate your brain this time?"

"I'm not the one who sent Cushman the money and the weapons he's been demanding all at the same time!" Jupiter shouted. "I've told you and I've told you; do not let this idiot have what he wants! I warned you he'd go off on his own if you did! But did anyone listen to me? No! You send me notes to pull on the leash and then give the son-of-a-bitch the knife to cut it off at the same time! What the fuck were you expecting to have happen?"

"Who authorized those shipments?" The Sun brought the meeting up short with his icy question.

He looked down the table, staring hard at each of them in turn. The silence stretched. So, someone _had_ known just what Cushman and his Free Colonial Party would do. _Someone_ wanted this trouble. They wanted Jupiter off the Assembly, preferably shot for incompetence, and their own toddy on. Someone had unseemly ambitions. Eyes gradually turned down the table, everyone looking in the same direction.

"Pluto?" The Sun asked with a lethal softness. "Is there something you would care to explain?"

He'd known the Romefeller fanatic was dangerous, they all knew it. But none of them had realized he was barking mad on top of it. It left them all unprepared when instead of wilting under the group's disapproval; the treacherous bastard yanked up a machine pistol and started shooting.

"This is OUR revolution!" He screamed. "The goals of Duke Dermal will be achieved now!"

The first shots were aimed at Jupiter. The chosen target took long enough to die to allow the Sun to roll out of his chair and punch the panic button he'd installed in this clumsy suit months ago. Now everything depended on how fast his people could eliminate Pluto's.

"We are the people born to rule! We will not be denied our heritage any longer by the crawling, incompetent masses who lack the education and the inspiration to be true leaders! The ability to command is bred into us and we will exercise it properly in the newly remade world of the Rational Revolution!" The words were punctuated by short bursts from the machine pistol and followed by the unmistakable sound of bodies dropping bonelessly to the floor.

The main doors crashed open and a battle spilled into the ornate Assembly room. The Sun had rolled under the table, tucked into a tight ball. A well placed kick earlier had dropped the massive chair he'd been sitting in over on its side to cover his back. He'd been a fool to come unarmed! Now there was nothing he could do but cower here until he either emerged victorious on the strength of others or was shot in the back by that vainglorious idiot!

The explosive cacophony of battle and death roared over his head for perhaps another sixty endless seconds. Then, shockingly, there was silence. It lasted perhaps ten more seconds before the first of the seriously wounded began to scream, a sound abruptly ended by a single shot.

"Your Excellency!" Major Trident was suddenly there, pulling the chair aside and helping the Sun back to his feet. "Are you injured?"

"Only in my pride," The man admitted bitterly. "I should have seen this coming."

A quick look told him Pluto was not going to be a problem any longer. Indeed, he'd been so severely and repeatedly shot that he was able to recognize the rebel only by the ruins of the robes he'd been wearing. Two more shots rang in the small room as his people administered their version of justice to the losers. He turned quickly.

"Hold!" The Sun snapped before one of the troopers could finish another rebel. "Take all the prisoners you can. I want to be sure we get the entire organization and the dead will not give us the names we need! Take just enough care to keep them alive until they answer all our questions. Be sure each one understands that talking will grant them a painless passing, and that silence will be given the treatment it deserves! Now, get this rabble out of here!"

Trident had his chair back on its feet and held it out until the Sun sat down. He then courteously pushed it in to the table until his master could reach everything that was set before his place easily. Rather amazingly, none of the documents had been disturbed. The Sun gave him a brief nod of thanks and then gave the ruins of the Solar Assembly a long, careful look.

Terra was being gently seated in her chair by two of his soldiers. Venus was just getting back to her feet but the hand gripping the left arm told him she hadn't gotten off unscathed. Mars was settling into his seat. And that was it. Mercury was unmistakably dead. Jupiter had been the first murdered. Uranus was draped across his chair, chest bloody and mask ruined. Neptune was being given first aid but it was unlikely he'd live long enough to reach surgery. Saturn might survive, she was a tough old creature and none of the wounds were in vital areas. Asteroids though, was gone, a single clean head shot had ended ambitions at least as great as Pluto's.

Well, well. Pluto's choices of whom to shoot first were interesting. It seemed he was as aware of some of the other Planet's ambitions as the Sun had been. At least he'd eliminated the three most dangerous to him quickly. Asteroids, Jupiter and Mercury all had significant followings inside the Crimson Dawn. Without them to lead, all three of those groups would be floundering for a bit as none of the three had felt confident enough in their control to have a recognized successor. It would be a good time to pull them apart and redirect their energy. Using Pluto's followers as the prey in a witch hunt should keep them all occupied enough to let him regain full command of the Revolution.

He glanced again at the shattered body of Uranus. That, that killing had been personal. Uranus was one of those 'unwashed masses' Pluto had so despised. He'd resented his inclusion in the Assembly from the moment the man had been elected. But Uranus had been exceptionally popular with the rank and file. A careful leak of that last speech of Pluto's at just the right time could see the aristocrats who'd backed him in difficulties ranging from simple harassment to outright assassination.

That could be quite useful. Romefeller had supplied most of the money for the Revolution and was expecting a corresponding reward in terms of influence. It was a pity for them that the _real_ Rational Revolution wasn't actually about putting those degenerate old families back in power. No, it was almost time to throw them to the wolves of popular opinion and just take their wealth for the Revolution. But, not quite yet. He'd have to time that leak carefully to get the most value from it.

What this did mean was he would be able to get al least two of the four he wanted onto the Assembly. The other factions were going to be too busy internally to rally quickly enough to stop him, and that was assuming a couple of them were smart enough to know they needed to. Unfortunately, it also meant the Revolution was going to run even slower now.

While he wouldn't morn the losses here for themselves or for the dangers they'd been, he would have to for the efficiency they would be losing moving new people into senior positions with the shooting already underway. The Preventers were going to be able to, at least temporarily; save assets they should not have had a hope in hell of saving. The fighting was going to take longer and the public was going to have too much of a chance to become disenchanted with Crimson Dawn.

The Sun glared at the shattered corpse of Pluto. The little hoity-toity bastard had died too quickly. Really, he should have been made to pay in pain for what he'd cost them today.

"Now what do we do?" Mars asked quietly.

"Now? Well now we will appoint new people to the robes of the Planets and we will prosecute our war," The Sun told him bluntly. "We can't afford to do anything else. I will want your suggestions by this evening. We need to rebuild the Assembly as quickly as we can."

"Our people are going to be shocked and deeply angered by this," Terra warned.

"I know. We will have to make sure the right leaks come out about this. We do not want anyone to desert our cause because they think we don't care or can't lead."

Terra nodded firmly. "I agree. Nor can we afford to slack off on our war effort. The Preventers are our only serious opposition. They have to be dealt with quickly!"

"And who do you want to put in charge of it?" Venus hissed as an orderly dressed her wounded arm. "Jupiter was our military commander. We don't have anyone else with his scope of experience or training."

"The man had at least two able lieutenants," Mars pointed out. "We give them a good look-over and stick the one who is the most competent with the job."

"And the title of Jupiter?" Terra asked quietly.

"Yes," The Sun said decisively. "We can not afford for the soldiers to think we do not value them enough. So whoever we select will have to be the next Jupiter. Our troops must believe they are fighting for those who respect them. They've had too much disrespect shown them by Dorlian and her party; they will not serve where they are not appreciated."

"You make a telling point," Venus nodded. "Very well, the next commander is the next Jupiter."

Terra and Mars both joined her. Very good! And he knew how to slant the data to favor the man who was in his pocket too. That would give him a secure ally on the Assembly and a solid grip on their armed forces.

"What about our hunts for the Gundam Pilots, Dorlian herself, and the Khushrenada child?" Venus asked slowly. "What progress is being made there?"

"The search group has narrowed the targets down. We will be following up on all of them. It may not go as quickly as before, we've just been bogged down in active combat, but I have significant confidence in where and how the hunters are looking." The Sun made himself nod to Venus politely, seriously wishing Pluto had been on target just one last time. "We are still awaiting an analysis of the spaceports from the last three days. There have been a number of reports of groups that might be the ones we're seeking. Unfortunately, none of them match in exact numbers or genders. However, it is possible for gender to be disguised and we'll know more in a few days."

"That's too long," Venus snapped.

"Its what we're stuck with since Pluto managed to force our hand here and get us tied up in open fighting," Terra said coldly. "If we weren't engaged in battle, we'd have the resources available to do the analysis by tonight. But we don't dare divert them from tracking where the Preventers are slipping off to and what equipment they are getting away with."

"They'll get away!" Venus snarled.

"Maybe," Mars agreed wearily. "But where do you expect them to get away to? They're either still on the planet, admittedly a big area to search, or they've come out to space, an even bigger area but with far, far fewer points that will support them in hiding. No, we'll get them eventually."

"Eventually could be too long." The woman would not give it up.

"I'm open to suggestions here," The Sun said calmly, knowing if he took any of them and they didn't work out it would be considered the suggester's fault, not his.

That earned him silence. None of the other three were unaware of the consequences of being wrong here. No, if there were any suggestions, they would come only after serious thought on the suggester's part.

When there had been a good two minutes of uneasy silence he simply nodded. "Very well, bring them to the Assembly when you've had a chance to review the resources we can afford to divert. Now, I would like some recommendations for the new Planets."

He had the meeting in hand now. It would be possible to direct the selections if he was clever, and he intended to be very clever. Soon, soon his orders would go unquestioned anywhere in the Dawn. And then he would be in a position to repay some people and places for past transgressions. He settled back to listen closely as the opening gauntlets were thrown.

* * *

She'd only met him once but it was very clear J had changed. At least physically. The oculars were new, oval where the old ones had been round and slightly larger than the first set. The leg brace was gone, indicating he'd lost the old one and been forced to replace it with a modern prosthetic, a very good one by the way the man moved. Then there was the arm. The strange, almost unnerving three-pad 'hand' had been replaced by something much more like a real hand and arm. All in all, it made him feel considerably more human than he'd been before.

Inasmuch as it was her first time to meet Professor G, she couldn't say if he'd changed or not. But he did still meet Duo's description of a mushroom of gray hair punctuated by a spike of a nose. There was a very uncomfortably crafty look in his eye as well.

They were all gathered in what seemed to be the kitchen/lounge space the two old men had been using. A motley array of chairs had been gathered, somewhat crowding the space but allowing everyone a place to sit. Heero was standing in the furthest corner he could from J, arms folded and face perfectly still. Duo was beside him. But everyone else had agreed to at least hear them out. No one was very happy though and the suspicion was heavy enough to serve on toast. Relena herself was trying to be as neutral as possible going into this.

"How long to fix the Gundams?" Duo apparently had had all of the silence he was willing to take.

G looked up. "Don't know. Its going to depend on how seriously they patrol this area. If they don't do much more than the Preventers did, I'd estimate probably seven to ten weeks. The more they snoop, the more careful we have to be and the slower we'll be going."

"Their systems are down now," Heero pointed out coldly. "And we are all here to help. There are six of us who understand the systems of the Gundams and have skills at maintenance and repair."

"You can't stay here," J told him bluntly. "We've been shutting our systems down to a bare survival level for two. The place doesn't have working life support for this many for any length of time. All of you must go into hiding immediately. They're going to be suspicious enough of the _Chariot of Fire_ and this base. We can't afford to have emissions that would validate those suspicions. I appreciate the offer, believe it or not, but our plans can't afford the risk."

"We need those Gundams," Zechs said quietly. "They're the only mobile suits going that stand a reasonable chance of facing these new Crimson Dawn Sagittarius suits."

"You need Gundams," G agreed. "And we've been working on that."

"You also have to go someplace where you genuinely can not be found," J said grimly. "We've found that too. I won't lie to you, this is very chancy. Everything has worked perfectly so far but we all know that things never work perfectly forever. There is a real risk here. But if you give it honest consideration, I think you'll agree it is probably a smaller one than staying anywhere here would be."

"I don't like the way you two are saying this," Duo growled. "I know you both and when you get like this you've got something real shaky up your sleeves."

"Oh it's shaky all right," G agreed with a grin. "But tell me Duo, what kind of chance would you take to have Deathscythe back?"

Seated slightly to the side and having angled her chair to let her watch them all, Relena saw all the pilots go tight with fury. Even Zechs and Lucrezia were openly angry. Dorothy was frowning and Mariemaia had an expression of the most profound distrust on her face.

"That was unkind of you," Relena said gently.

"Not at all. It was a very honest question. Because we've rebuilt the Gundams, our five that is, and four of them are already in the new hideout. Which means Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wu Fei will have to be willing to take the risk of going there to get them. But what we really need to have happen is for Heero there to walk his Wing Zero over to join the rest and for all of you to stay there with them for a while," J told her calmly.

"What the hell?!" Duo shouted.

"I do not believe you!" Wu Fei snapped, jumping to his feet.

"Show me!" Heero's sharp order dominated the others as Trowa and Quatre just stared at the two old men.

J simply stood up and headed out a hatchway. Heero moved so quickly he was the one immediately behind the old man when they entered the hallway even though he'd been in the furthest corner. Duo was right behind him. The rest of them followed in a cluster, caught between anticipation and anger.

Relena darted forward until she'd caught up with Heero and Duo. She needed to be with her friend and protector when he reclaimed his Gundam, she knew it. Only she could release him from the promise he'd made to her, and to himself.

How presumptuous that thought had been! But it was true. She knew it was because she'd caught Heero twice staring off into nowhere mumbling about it. If she said nothing, it would hold him back. He would die in battle then and it would be her fault.

She looked at Duo, moving with his usual swift grace beside Heero. She should be jealous of him, really. He had what she'd always wanted. Instead she'd discovered over the last two days that what she actually felt was an odd but very profound sorrow for them all. Their bonds went so very deep but this, this was something they'd had no choice in; and still didn't. They could be happy or angry or sad or embarrassed about the situation and it would make no difference. Nor was she sure it would be a good thing to even talk about it with these two strange old men right now.

"Hee-chan, 'Ro, calm down," Duo spoke softly. "He's messing with your head. Our Gundams are gone! They're blown to bits. I don't know what kinda line he's feeding us here but they're gone!"

Relena considered a top secret report that had come in a bit over two years ago now and wasn't so sure. Despite an exceptionally discrete search, there had never been any hints found of who had stolen the scraps of the five Gundams. Of all the possibilities for the thieves though, one of the supposedly dead Gundam scientists had never occurred to her. The dead, after all, wouldn't have had any use for them. She made a note to herself to make sure there really were bodies found and securely identified by at least three _different_ forensic methods before she ever believed any serious enemy, or friend, was dead again!

They left the human-scale hallway to find themselves in a vast passageway. The hatchway J turned toward was unmistakably scaled for mobile suits. Relena looked the other way and saw the people-size hatch beside a matching suit-scaled one that they'd all come through when they'd entered the base after unloading the supplies and both ruined Gundams. So, she knew where she was at least.

The air here was much colder than it had been in the kitchen/lounge or the hallway leading this way. Apparently this was one of the ways the old men were conserving energy. She wasn't at all sorry that the distance to the human hatchway was quite short! None of them were dressed for this. Then she was stepping through the hatch into a much warmer space.

It was a mobile suit maintenance bay. She'd been in several. The ones she'd seen though had been dedicated to disassembly of the discards of war. This one had a completely different feel to it. There was none of the sadness that accompanied destruction here. No, this space was dedicated to creation. She could feel the fierce energy of the vast room like a warm fire on her face.

"Oh fucking shit!" The shocked exclamation ripped out of Duo.

Relena turned to see what had so rocked the pilot. White, blue, touches of gold and red, the spectacular 'feather' wings. Wing Zero stood brilliantly illuminated against the far wall, massive twin buster rifle racked beside it.

It was incredibly beautiful, she thought. As beautiful, and as deadly, as the young man who had been born to fly it. Had she been wrong, back then, to insist they destroy their machines? Could she have found a role for them in the new world of peace instead? Would their simple presence have deterred the Crimson Dawn from even forming? She sighed softly, knowing the questions could never be answered now.

"'Ro?"

Relena turned from machine to pilot. The conflict in him was now plain on Heero's face. She understood the deep concern in Duo's voice immediately. A quick check of the others told her everything was going to depend on Heero. The others would fight without him if they had to but even the blind could see they would be crippled if they did. They were a team, and he was their unwavering combat leader. Without him, they were not whole.

Quatre was their heart, Duo their soul, Wu Fei their burning passion, and Trowa their vital balance. But without Heero and his unswerving drive, they would falter, possibly critically. That couldn't be allowed to happen. It was her job to support Heero. That had always been her role. He enabled her to be strong. She enabled him to go forward into a life he was still trying to understand.

So she stepped up beside him and let her arm go around his too-slim waist. "You really made it into something beautiful, you know? The world looked to you and the others for protection and they got that and beauty too. I don't know how you did it."

She could feel his eyes boring into her but she focused on the Gundam, keeping a gentle smile on her face. "Do you know, the times I've felt safest have always been when you and your Gundam were near? I've missed that, since they were destroyed. I think perhaps the whole world has missed it."

"They're weapons," Heero said quietly.

"Yes," She agreed. "But I've wondered these last few years if perhaps I couldn't have found a better use for these weapons than smashing them to bits. You don't always have to actually use the weapon destructively to use it effectively. They have such tremendous symbolic significance, these Gundams. And I could only see one way of exploiting it then. I've questioned that decision ever since."

"What do you want me to do?"

"What are you willing to do Heero?" Relena turned and met his gaze seriously. "I could order you to fly the Wing Zero again but if that was not what you were willing to do, sooner or later it would be the death of you and probably the rest of the team. I will not give you orders. I can not. All I can do is tell you that the promise you made to both me and yourself is one circumstances may not let you keep. And that I will not think anything less of you if you chose to fly again."

She sighed softly. "I believe with all my heart in the concept of total pacifism. But I've also been a working government official for several years now and I've learned that it is not as simple to achieve as I once believed. I honestly thought if we removed the weapons, war would end. It was a naive dream. We must meet the needs of all our people before we will even come close to that as a reality. And we must provide real and honest alternatives to war for people to settle their differences as well. We are a long way from that goal."

"It's a good goal," Heero said quietly.

"Gonna take a while to get there though," Duo noted.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right," Relena agreed sadly. "I had such hopes at the end of the Mariemaia Incident. And I acted on those hopes. But I can see now that I didn't always act in the most practical ways. So, we have another war on our hands."

"You are not to blame for this," Wu Fei noted evenly. "You are only one person and one person, no matter how influential, does not control everything in a political body the size of the ESUN. Too many others around you and below you are corrupt. It is their work that has led to this."

"What do you wish me to do?" Heero, focused as always, asked again, silencing everyone else with the question.

She turned to him, as focused now as he was. She had to get this right on the first try. Heero had never been good at dealing with conflicting or contradictory instructions. Those just left him open to the manipulation of the Zero System. And this time, she wanted him to manipulate it instead. So she ignored, indeed shut out all awareness, of everyone else around them to concentrate everything on the young man she'd loved beside her.

"Heero, I need to know if you agree that this war will endanger honestly innocent people."

"Yes it will," He replied unhesitatingly. "Everything I've learned about Crimson Dawn indicates they are very sure of themselves, their goals, and their right to rule. Moreover, they are inflexible and intolerant of other opinions. Collateral damages in battle aside, they believe in killing their enemies by entire families to prevent their resurgence. It does not matter who a child's parents are, the child is innocent. They will kill the child anyway."

"The ESUN is deeply flawed, I can see that now that I'm older and a bit wiser. But do you think it should be replaced by Crimson Dawn?"

"No!"

"Then I would like to suggest a thought to you. You could think of this as a modification of the promise. That you will only fight, and act as each battle demands, to defend yourself, your friends, and the concepts of life that you believe in. It's a very loose kind of promise, I know, but at the same time, I know you. You have no wish to kill any longer. And I don't believe you will even injure anyone you don't truly have to. This would allow you to act though while the promise we shared will not."

She bit her lip as his face went very still. It had taken her two days and largely sleepless nights to formulate that simplistic sounding suggestion. She had to give him permission to act and at the same time, give him a sense of limits. This was the best she'd been able to come up with, and it was so inadequate!

For several long minutes he stared up at the restored Gundam, no hint of what was going through his mind showing on his face. The rest of the team waited patiently, far too used to this to question the need. Her brother, Noin and Mariemaia on the other hand were openly studying the hanger itself. She split her attentions between them all until J gave a surprisingly gentle snort that grabbed Heero's attention instantly.

"I wish I could give you the time you need for this but we just don't have it. The supplies have to be moved, the Wing Zero must go over, and all of you must go with it. And thanks to your new contribution, we have a pair of wrecks to get in here as well. The local Preventer net has not come back on yet but that is simply a matter of time and something we have no control over. I'm sorry boy, but we must begin to take action now."

"Understood," Heero nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Ah, now that one will be a bit of a surprise," G told him. "Come this way. We have some recordings for you all to watch. It will take some time, which is why we can't spare it for you to stand here thinking."

Some four hours later Relena was sitting, almost in shock, as the lights came up at last and the screen went dark. Just the idea that someone had penetrated the space-time continuum between two different universes had been jarring enough. But they were so similar to the people she knew all around her! And J and G planned to send them there! To an abandoned colony no less! And G had BEEN there! More than once!

"You're shittin' me! You outta your fuckin' mind Pestilence? What the hell makes you think I'm going there?" Duo yelled.

"Because that's where Deathscythe Hell is waiting for you," G replied calmly.

"You put my buddy . . . . . , that's low, even for you!" Duo spat furiously.

"Sandrock?" Quatre asked nervously.

"With Deathscythe and the others," J replied neutrally.

"You have sent my NATAKU to some strange dimension?!?" Wu Fei screamed, hand clawing at his waist for a sword that, fortunately, wasn't there.

"Wu Fei, Duo," Heero's deep voice suddenly cut through the shouting. "Where would you recommend we secure the Gundams?"

"Well, not in some Godforsaken alien dimension!" Duo snarled.

"Not an answer," Heero snapped back. "Give me an answer or shut up."

Instant silence was his reply. Everyone stared at him. Heero for his part was glaring at the snarl of cabling and modules that surrounded H's strange bell mouthed structure.

"'Ro? You buying this shit?" Duo faltered.

"I have no better idea to suggest," Heero replied coldly. "Crimson Dawn has too many eyes in too many places. They have proven that already. But I will listen to any reasonable suggestion that would keep us here. I can not say I like the thought of going there."

He turned to them. "I understand the dangers. This facility is the only one of its kind. If Crimson Dawn finds and destroys it, we will be trapped there. That idea is very disturbing. But we can't move yet. I've been living on the bottom of the underworld. I know how popular _anyone_ who brings down the ESUN is going to be at first. No one who stands with the Preventers will have much popular support with a solid half of Earth's people until Crimson Dawn shows its true face. Once it does that though, and what they really are sinks in, we will be welcome with open arms again. However, that could take as much as six months to develop. We must not be found until we are ready to move. And I say again, I have no better idea for a secure hiding place for five to seven Gundams."

"He has a point," Trowa said unhappily.

"Tro!" Duo yelled.

Barton shrugged. "Can't change reality Maxwell."

"No we can't," Zechs agreed heavily. "How much more of this data do you have for us to review?"

"We've put together a six hour program covering their history for the last three thousand years. It is little more than a timeline and mention of cultures for most of that but it will give you a fairly good background for the last hundred years and a solid grip on the most recent four, including their two wars," G replied.

"How do you have this planned?" The Preventer asked, knowing they would have a program laid out.

"Well, before we knew we'd be dealing with two more damaged Gundams, we were hoping to get the supplies over today, have you all get a nights sleep either here or there and then watch the history presentation. The idea of moving the supplies was to familiarize you with the safety of making the crossing."

"Of course," Zechs agreed drily.

"You aren't going along with this nutso idea too?" Duo stared at the former Oz officer, aghast.

"Duo," Quatre suddenly put in, "think of this as the greatest adventure you'll ever have. We're going to be the first from our universe to cross to another and live there for a while."

"Besides," He added offhandedly. "Do you want Pestilence to be able to say he did something the God of Death wouldn't?"

Duo stared at the blond with narrowed eyes. "That's plain sneaky Quat."

"But true, eh?"

The American turned to find G grinning evilly at him.

"Yeah, he would," Duo admitted heavily.

"So, are you coming with us?" Quatre asked.

"I guess I don't have much choice."

"Then I suggest we suit up and get to work while we still can use the tows from the Chariot. This will go a lot faster with top of the line equipment to use," Zechs pointed out. "They're officially set to be on 'docking maneuvers' for another twenty hours. We need to be done by then."

The men went off to suit up. Relena, Noin, Dorothy and Mariemaia on the other hand went to see how the barrier was opened. And when J offered them the chance to cross, Relena fearlessly took it, the other three right behind her.

The first thing that struck her about this new place was a feeling of desertion. These rooms had been abandoned for a long time and she didn't think they had been heavily used even when this colony had been active. The tang in the air was mildly unpleasant at first but it faded out of notice over time. Yet it too indicated long neglect.

But G had been truthful about the condition of the area. The rooms were in excellent shape, the water worked, the lights and the heat worked and the bedding and linens were in good condition. She did not trust the cleaners or anything else she found though and was shortly working with Noin to round this material up and get it out of the rooms they'd marked out for use.

This area had four short corridors with four rooms each. Given the reality of the situation, she and Noin were setting up the closest corridor for the pilots while Dorothy and Mariemaia worked on the farthest for the rest of them. The doors and walls here did not appear to have the same quality of soundproofing as the facilities of Quatre's ship, and it would only be civil to offer some privacy if they could. She'd have set things up the other way around but that would have put them that much further from the mobile suit bay and that somehow didn't seem a good idea.

By the time they had the beds made and towels in all the baths, the guys were coming over with pallet loads of supplies. G was there as well, directing them. So she and Noin detoured into the kitchen facilities.

These proved similar enough to what they had at home to ensure they would be able to prepare meals. There were a couple of devices though that looked like ovens but had no means of heating that either of them could find. Rather than risk explosions, they just tied them closed with a note on them indicating they weren't to be experimented with until they could be researched. A refrigeration unit and a freezer unit were found, both set on standby. Not sure what the local temperature settings meant, they settled for just below medium on both units and left them to chill down for a while.

Quatre brought them a small pallet that turned out to be a variety of foods. So they stocked the generous pantry spaces with enough to keep their relatively small party fed for better than a month. They had already learned that while Duo still had a healthy appetite, he no longer ate everything that didn't eat him first. Apparently he'd started tapering off once he'd turned eighteen. Heero's metabolism was still high and always would be to fuel his augmented strength. The reason he was so badly underweight was because he'd been unable to find enough high calorie and protein foods to accommodate the demands of his enhanced system. That at least would be no issue here. Finished with the kitchen and having checked to be sure the refrigeration units were both cooling properly, Relena and Noin went to see what else was happening.

They met Wu Fei, back in his Preventer uniform, carrying several bags toward the pilot's sleeping quarters.

"Ah, there you are. Zechs was asking for you both. Yuy is going to bring Wing Zero over in a few minutes. You might want to go to the mobile suit bay to watch."

"Oh, thank you! That could be something amazing to watch."

Relena smiled happily and darted for the heavy hatchway. Noin followed her at a more controlled pace. It was Relena's first visit to the bay and while she'd expected it to be large, she hadn't expected it to be so well lit. Nor was she expecting to find all the extra service insets. This had room for another five Gundams! There would be plenty of space for the Wing and Epyon when they were repaired.

Actually, the place was enormous. One came out onto the second level service walkway when you entered from the living area, giving you a panoramic view down the bay. The five service insets that lined both sides were augmented by a pair of horizontal cradles that sat at the top of the vast space. Given the size of the hatch at the far end, this was designed to take in a small shuttle as well.

She realized everyone else was waiting by the closest of the suit bays. The one directly across from it was empty. The other four on that side held the other Gundams. They all looked to be in brand new condition. Relena found her eyes wanting to cloud on her. She hadn't realized how much _she'd_ missed these war machines herself until she saw them standing here, so beautifully restored.

Then Quatre was beside her, arm around her shoulder supportively. "It is good to have them back, isn't it?"

"Yes, Quatre, yes it is."

Duo leaned happily into her from the other side. "Doesn't 'Scythe look great?"

There were tears in those violet eyes, and tracks on his face where others had already fallen.

"Yes, yes, he looks wonderful Duo."

"I'm not gonna blow him up again Princess."

"No, Duo, I'm not going to make the mistake of asking you to do that again," Relena promised softly. "They are our heritage, our pride and perhaps our burden. But they are something we should never be allowed to forget or deny again."

"Thank you," Trowa said quietly. "It would be very difficult to let go of Heavyarms a third time."

"I thank you as well," Wu Fei said very gently. "My Nataku was never happy with nothing more than the single blade I had made from the remnant of Altron. She will be forever at home now that Altron has been returned to her."

It struck her suddenly that everyone had spoken of these young men as 'the Gundam Pilots' for the last three years even though their Gundams were gone. It simply had not been possible in the public mind to separate pilot and machine. But until today, they hadn't really been 'the Gundam Pilots' at all. They had been five young men struggling to find themselves in a strange world of peace they'd helped to make but did not understand well. They'd managed better than most would have guessed but they hadn't been themselves, their real soul-deep selves, doing it. Was it really a tragedy that they were somehow tied to these machines? That they weren't truly fully alive unless they knew they had them somewhere to hand? She didn't know the answer and wasn't sure she wanted to.

Then there was a strange shudder in the air at the far end of the vast bay. A tall 'doorway' suddenly stabilized there. She was looking into the suit bay of the old Oz base.

Wing Zero stood there, buster rifle in hand. And suddenly she was back on the _Peacemillion_, trying to talk Heero out of going out onto a battlefield she was sure he would not come back from. But instead of going away from her, this time Wing Zero walked toward her. And as the mobile suit came forward, Relena Peacecraft Dorlian suddenly just knew things, all things, would work out somehow. A weight she'd barely understood she'd been carrying dropped from her shoulders.

* * *

"Hero?"

Lacus sat up abruptly, jarred out of one of the strangest coherent dreams she'd ever had. Her hand rose slowly to the side of her head but she realized nothing really hurt. She had been standing in a mobile suit repair bay. And the winged suit from the other space-time was walking toward her. Why would that make her feel so amazingly safe? It had been as though it was Strike-Freedom coming for her! And who was Hero?

She yawned suddenly, eyes very heavy. Whatever the strange dream was, it lacked the power to keep her awake. She settled back down. But just before she drifted under a last image surfaced of the winged suit standing in front of her, hatch open, and a slender young man with very long brown hair and amazing deep blue eyes sitting at the controls. 'Hero' she realized as she sank back into slumber.


	13. Chapter 13

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 13 The Opposition does some planning. Settling in is not so simple. Command Duel

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Her face a study in icy neutrality, Ilene Terasawa leaned back in the comfortable chair the Blue Cosmos bastard had provided. Warily, she watched the meeting unfold around her, while she sat quite still, arms cross, allowing nothing but her eyes to move. The grandiosely self-titled _Commander_ Hannam hadn't come across with much data so far. But you'd think he'd dropped a library's worth to listen to those three fools babble. How the hell did they ever get anyone to follow them?

No, she wasn't doing the bastard justice. Hannam was good, damn good. He could make most politicians look like little kids scrabbling in the sandbox. And if she hadn't grown up in the house of an even twister bastard, she'd likely be just as taken in as the rest of 'em.

But she was Jun Yat Moon's illegitimate daughter and there had been no one better at word play in a hundred years than her publicly pious, lying, two-faced, fuck-anything-that-moved father. The worthless shit had claimed descent from another religious Moon, and he'd built a personal faith cult around himself on that baseless allegation that he'd kept going almost sixty years before one betrayed girl finally got even. If she'd learned nothing else growing up in the shadows of his house, she'd sure had it hammered into her just how easily people could be swayed by well-chosen words. The social services saps had bought his smooth, merciless lies about Mother for twelve endless years!

Hannam wasn't quite in the old man's league but he wasn't far from it. And his target audience, herself excepted, really wasn't all that sharp either. Vicious, fine fighters, excellent killers, but not over-inclined to seriously analyze a situation before they barreled into it.

Admiral Yuki Terasawa's daughter on the other hand analyzed everything. And what she was getting out of this meeting was not making her comfortable. Hannam was not lying to them, at least not that she could detect, but she was sure there were some very important holes in the data he was dribbling out.

"The next round of meetings will be held at the Aube orbital station Ame-no-Mihashira." Commander Hannam said evenly. "The visit to the L-4 colonies will take place before that set of meeting begins. Unfortunately, there is still considerable argument about when and who will go. The more radical elements in the PLANTs are dragging their heels, trying to reduce the escort to a regular ZAFT forces Team. The Foreign Minister of course, is not pleased with this. Other planetary governments have been expressing reservations as well, seeing the situation as a potential slight to their representatives as well."

"Big fucking deal, some coddled diplomat's insulted." Captain Napci growled. "I don't give a shit about them and their 'inconveniences', got that?"

"He's got a point." Dieter Ruhde spoke up for the first time in nearly an hour. "All this talk hasn't told us the important thing; when do we strike? I have five crews drawing pay and getting bored waiting for this mission to come off. And I haven't had anything else to distract them with for two weeks. Old grudges are starting to surface and past offences are being recalled. I can't afford much more stationary time."

"Too true, too true!" Captain Boothe offered. "This isn't like the days of wet-water piracy when a Captain could send a crew ashore to burn it off for a while. There are no ports where we're welcome or could pass unnoticed. There's been too much war and too many colonies abandoned or lost. The ones that were deteriorating, that would have been our natural playgrounds; they were the first casualties of the fighting. No, Hannam, we need either a firm date for the big ambush or something with real juice in it to tide our people over."

Yes, with their sloppy recruiting strategies she was sure they did. Ruhde was probably understating the tensions on his ships too. She knew for a fact that he hired for skills and didn't pay enough attention to backgrounds, allowing Eurasian, Alliance, Oceanic, and neutral nations personnel to mix without regard to how any of the individuals might feel about the other groups. Oh, yes, he likely had some very explosive combinations getting dangerously heated right about now. And the other two weren't all that much more careful; they would be having similar issues.

Even her people were beginning to get a bit restless and she handpicked her crews carefully. All of hers came from eastern Eurasia, shared a language, a culture, and her cold hatred of Coordinators. Her people were united with her on a mission. Humans had made these creatures and humans must get rid of them. Failure to do so would eventually see true humans reduced to nothing more than slaves for the freaks; their blindly foolish designers had built them too well for there to be any other outcome. They had to be disposed of before their numbers became overwhelming!

Commander Hannam leaned forward thoughtfully. "I understand your situation gentlemen, madam. Unfortunately, I have no power to move the decision process forward. The next round of meetings will start in two months. This round ends in two weeks. The fly-by will have to take place sometime after the end of the current round and before the next but that is all I can be positive of at this moment. I would expect it to happen fairly soon after the close of the last meeting though as I would not expect Foreign Minister Pearson to linger in the PLANTs. He is neither comfortable nor welcome there."

Right. He did know something. Fine, let him keep his secret for the moment. She had something she wanted to accomplish though and the restlessness of the other Captains' fleets made this the perfect time to see if she couldn't force their 'ally' to cough up a bit more in the way of supplies. It was the ideal moment to make a constructive suggestion.

"Two weeks minimum before the main show you say?" Ilene Terasawa leaned forward with a small, cold smile. "Then why don't we make sure we won't have anyone showing up unexpectedly to interrupt the key event when it does happen. Between us, we've got more than enough forces to take out those two new stations Aube and the Alliance have moved into the area. Neither one is fully manned yet but the little birds tell me they're already pretty well supplied. And I could use what they have in their storerooms."

"Are you nuts?" Napci stared at her. "You want to draw attention to the area?"

"Yes, I do. And then I want another incident set up to go off no more than twenty-four hours before the ambush to pull all those forces that this first strike will draw into the area away to chase the new threat," she said icily. "Think with something besides your damn dick for once. Those two new stations will be very close to fully online in a couple of weeks. They will put significant military force in the immediate vicinity of our target zone. If Yamato can hold out for any time at all, they will be able to get there to back him up. Smash them and he's on his own."

He jerked back, insulted. But the others were giving the idea serious consideration. Hannam especially seemed interested. Good!

"They're both in bad areas," Ruhde said thoughtfully. "They won't be easy to approach."

"Oh, they're a lot more vulnerable than shielded, believe me. I did the scout for our ambush. I can supply everyone with current data on both stations immediate space that will allow us to get very close very fast. Much faster than they'll expect us to be able to for sure."

"The lady has a point there," Commander Hannam noted calmly. "And these are not low profile targets either."

Ah yes, trust the Blue Cosmos sneak to appeal to male vanity! He'd played that well last meeting too. She gave him an approving, if vicious, smile. She had a reputation of her own to maintain here. A rabid killer of questionable sanity must reward those who agree with her after all.

That got the discussion rolling though. And it was very quickly obvious that none of her 'compatriots' were really opposed to it. They had to be in worse shape trying to control their people than she'd imagined, a lot worse to agree so eagerly to this!

Hammering out a plan to hit both stations at the same time took hours. She discovered Hannam was quite the diplomat when he wanted to be. He could switch from that to hard-nosed son-of-a-bitch instantly too. Since she wasn't supposed to be a tactical genius, she kept her suggestions to a minimum and let him do most of the real planning. He did a smart job of it, and managed to make it look like most of the ideas were coming from Ruhde. She liked that trick. If this blew up in their faces at all, it was going to be blamed on the arrogant German.

Best of all, the four of them weaseled full combat loads out of the Blue Cosmos stores. She could see how badly it hurt Hannam to have to hand over the supplies. But even he had to admit they couldn't tackle armed military stations, even undermanned ones, unless they were ready to fight a pitched battle themselves. And since they'd also had to agree that the majority of their mobile suits were going to have to be reserved for the _real_ show, they were going to have to do it primarily with ship based missile and beam weaponry. She shuttled back to the _Starving Vulture_ a reasonably pleased woman.

Mickey met her when she exited the shuttle. "How'd it go, Captain?"

"They bought it, hook, line, and sinker." She grinned savagely.

"Both parts?" Mickey's eyebrows rose toward her hairline in surprise.

"No, I didn't try for the second target at this time. There will be an opportunity to suggest it when we load supplies. Since we still don't have a firm date for the ambush, we have to be a little careful here. Overplaying our hand will not be smart." She swept a carefully casual glance around the landing bay, noting too many eyes and ears for comfort. "I'd like your report on the sweeps. I'll meet you in my cabin in fifteen minutes."

"Yes Ma'am!"

She was reasonably certain of the loyalty of her crew but only reasonably. And she knew any pirate could be bought. That little discussion, while it would displease the others, wouldn't really tell them much if it was reported. What she and Mickey needed to go over now though would get them all killed.

So she spent the time between her arrival and her first officer's sweeping the cabin for all forms of spy gear. As always, it came up clean. She was setting the last test unit back in its case when Peters knocked at the hatch.

She locked it behind the other woman and then helped her spread her maps out on the big desk. "What did you manage to get?"

"They maintain a very high comm traffic but the majority of it seems to be bogus." Peters told her. "Whoever sets their stuff up is running short on imagination because they're using the same message patterns repeatedly over about a seven hour window. We can't get a real good lock from here but the genuine stuff seems to be going in only five directions, three destinations on Earth and two in space."

"You're sure about this? Only two space destinations?"

Mickey smiled tightly. "Oh yeah, just two. I can give you rough areas but since both are in the Debris Belt, they won't be all that much immediate help."

No, not an immediate help but they would allow her to close in on the bases over time. And if there honestly were just the two left; she smiled, an expression that would have cost Albert Hannam his bladder control. For Ilene Terasawa was as much an enemy of Blue Cosmos as she was of Coordinators. Those narrow, mind-locked bigots would hold back the human race for centuries if they weren't eliminated. They were just like her father. And like him, they had to be cleansed from the face of the Earth. She turned glittering eyes to the maps her second laid out before her.

* * *

There were times when Zechs Merquise was a very sharp man. No, that was not honest. Zechs was sharp, period. Heero wasn't sure he valued that at this particular moment in time. But there was no getting around the fact that the man had been right on the money when he'd forced them all to sit down and have that damned uncomfortable talk their second day out on the _Chariot_. They'd been here close to three weeks now and if they hadn't set up a few basic rules and cleared the air on some issues there would likely have been a nasty fight or two by this time.

It was the biggest 'safe house' he'd ever stayed in really. But it was confined completely unto itself too. There was no larger world outside the door where anyone could go to calm down when someone said something tactless or did something offensive. Oh they'd explored it thoroughly by now and discovered it was larger than J and G had known but still, even with the extra rooms, it was finite.

They passed the time playing some of the staggering array of games the Maganac had packed on Quatre's orders. Preparing meals became something of an exercise in creativity for Noin, Quatre, Trowa and Wu Fei. They all studied the local language and watched the recordings J had supplied them with to fill in their sketchy knowledge of recent history, places, and people. And in three short weeks, it wasn't enough.

He didn't know of anyone who had used the access into the building that would let them into the colony interior more than once. You didn't need Quatre's gift to know there had been a lot of negative things done there. It had been too uncomfortable for even his relatively non-receptive nature to take. Poor Quatre had passed out in the doorway.

The only one of them who could get out of here was Duo, whose Gundam in full stealth mode was invisible. Since Duo and his restless energy were one of the problems with the confined nature of this particular safe house, he and Deathscythe were doing a lot of scouting. This had dangers of its own of course but Maxwell wasn't quite the crazy kid of the Eve Wars any longer. He was still taking chances, but he took them with a lot more thought behind his moves now. And he was enabling them to build an extremely detailed map of their immediate space and the colony surface. If they ever had to move outside, at least they wouldn't be doing it blindly.

Heero himself did most of his hiding out right where he was now, in the guts of Wing Zero, finding things to tweak in the systems or tiny repairs he didn't think J had done quite well enough. Three weeks of this was beginning to run him out of easily fixed things though. This adjustment on the n-jammer canceller was just about the last project he'd been able to come up with.

There was a sharp bang as someone threw the hatch between the mobile suit bay and the living quarters open with more force than necessary. Heero didn't look up. He was fairly sure he knew who it was.

"Trowa!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But . . . ."

"You let her hang all over you! No! I can't deal with this right now. Please, just go."

"I . . . . . . . . . Very well. But we won't resolve anything with silence."

Quatre moved lightly enough that Heero didn't hear him go. But he did hear the hatch close, much more gently than it had opened. Barton stalked past Wing Zero to Heavyarms. Heero heard the hatch open and shut.

And there was their other major issue. Out of nowhere, Quatre had found himself becoming friends with Dorothy Catalonia. The girl's mental stability was open to question, she'd made a sincere effort to kill him once, but Quatre, generous Quatre, was ignoring that. And Trowa was wildly jealous.

To give all three of them credit, none of them were trying to rub anything in anyone else's face here. Quatre was doing his level best to balance his time shared between his friends. Dorothy was genuinely polite to Trowa and no one had caught her saying anything nasty behind his back. Trowa was civil to Dorothy and kept his knives to himself.

Heero let the wrench rest on his knee for a minute as he considered the subject of Dorothy. Of all of them, she'd changed the most since the Eve Wars. She was still not what he'd call rock stable but she wasn't teetering on the edge of insanity any longer by a long shot. She had an acidly sarcastic tongue when she wanted to but it wasn't a constant thing now. He smiled wryly; she definitely hadn't given up manipulating people and situations around her. But now she reminded him of her late cousin Treize Khushrenada a lot more than she did a rabid weasel. And the exaggerated manners of the old days were largely gone, pulled out now only to make a quick point and immediately hustled out of sight again. It was not hard for him to see why the ever sociable Quatre would befriend this new version of Dorothy Catalonia.

He was having more trouble understanding Trowa's rampant jealousy. It wasn't as though the woman could take Quatre from him. While he clearly admired her in some ways, he just as clearly didn't see her as anything close to being the physical, emotional, or combat equal of a Gundam Pilot. And until he did, Dorothy would get nothing more from Quatre than his cheerful company over a chess board. Heero could not see what there was in games of chess to be so upset about. He picked up the wrench and went back to work on the last of the connections.

He tightened the very last of the redesigned links between the n-jammer canceller and the nuclear engine that powered Zero with quiet satisfaction. J had gotten the canceller to work but he'd been rushed and hadn't gotten the best efficiency out of it. Heero had tweaked the thing until the coverage was perfect _and_ it would hold off an n-jammer field at least three times what it was rated for. He'd talk to the others and start getting the other Gundams set up like this tomorrow.

The air pressure in the bay abruptly dropped noticeably, not seriously, but noticeably. Duo must be cycling back in from his latest scouting run. He got the back plate mounted and secured over the access port for the canceller before the Deathscythe Hell settled into its bay and Duo bounced out of the hatch.

"How did it go?" Heero asked as he stepped out to meet the braided menace.

"Good run." Duo nodded, waving the discs in his hand. "Went up toward the colony nose this trip. I've got another twenty-six hundred square meters of the surface fully detailed and sixty-one hundred roughed in. Found one of the main ports too! Didn't get too close though. There was a pretty competent looking warship sitting inside and they had their active array on and pointed right out the port mouth."

"Markings?"

"That funny looking fishy thing. That would be the merc team, what, Serpent Tail, right?"

"Yes. According to J's records, they seem to find this colony a useful place to base occasionally. We will need to be very careful while they are here. I'm glad you discovered them."

"So does this mean we have to stop our hacking on the colony mainframe?"

"No, but it does mean we will have to move our caution level to Alpha One. And we will need to direct our search toward some means of learning how to tell when they've left."

"Yeah, that'd be nice to know."

The hatch to the living area banged open for a second time in an hour. But this time it was Mariemaia who'd pushed it so hard. She almost tripped as the hatch swung away from her, she'd hit it with so much force. Then she caught herself on the railing and was looking around wildly.

"Heero! Duo!" She screamed when she spotted them. "Come quick! Someone's attacking the two forts on each side of this colony cluster! Where's Trowa? He should come too!"

"What the fuck?" Duo stared at her, shocked.

"Go with her!" Heero pushed him. "I'll get Trowa."

"I thought we came here to _avoid_ a goddamn war!" Duo snarled as he took off.

"We did." Heero muttered as he dashed for the Heavyarms. "But it seems war does not wish to avoid us."

Fortunately for the future of their team, Trowa wasn't so lost to reason that he refused to come out of his Gundam. So they really weren't all that far behind Duo in reaching the surprisingly well set up communications room they'd found behind a doorway cleverly hidden at the end of the hallway that split the dining room and the lounge. Zechs already had all nine of the large monitoring screens up, and yes, there were a pair of serious fights going on.

There were different views of the two stations, six of the Aube station and three of the Alliance base, all from space. Both stations were in the process of being shot to shit. As Heero watched he realized they weren't doing much damage in return. It looked like they couldn't bring many weapons to bear on their enemies. Unfortunately, there was nothing obvious to tell him what the problem was.

He gave the situation a careful study and came up with ten enemy ships per base. None of the ships carried markings from any legitimate government they knew of. In fact, these were so individualized; he was willing to bet they were pirates. But when did pirates start striking government facilities like this?

"Ah," Trowa said quietly, "Singapore Defense Syndrome." No wonder they're in such trouble."

"Huh?" Duo grunted.

"Singapore Defense Syndrome," Trowa repeated. "It's named for the city-state of Singapore on Earth. Back in the twentieth century, during one of the major wars, the city was considered impregnable. But it was attacked from an unexpected direction and fell quickly. These forts seem to have the vast majority of their weapons set up to guard specific traffic lanes. They don't seem to be able to adjust them either. Just like the guns that guarded Singapore. And like the attackers at Singapore, their enemy is hitting them on their unguarded side. Someone did some very serious scouting before this strike."

As they watched, three of the enemy ships managed to force locks onto the Alliance station. It wasn't long before what guns the base had been able to fire began to cease and more of the pirates were able to close and board. By the time the last ship locked on, there was no more visible resistance. It took longer but the Aube station met the same fate.

"They aren't leaving." Mariemaia sounded both scared and angry.

"No." Zechs agreed grimly. "I would guess they are stripping the base stores of everything useful to them."

"So that story Dr. J intercepted about the dangers of a growing pirate confederacy is true," Dorothy said quietly. "I wonder if there is anything on this wreck of a colony that would draw them here."

"We'll hope not," Noin replied unhappily. "There isn't anything here to stop them."

"Duo found a Serpent Tail warship docked in port," Heero told them. "But they're mercs and I would not expect them to fight twenty pirate ships for no reward."

"I would doubt it," Zechs agreed.

"Did anyone else notice that there didn't seem to be many mobile suits out there?" Quatre asked suddenly. "Dr. J's report made special notice of how very many mobile suits the pirates seemed to have. Yet I don't think I saw two dozen between both attacks. This was almost a pure ship assault. Where are those mobile suits, and what are they being held back for?"

"Oh, good questions Q-man!" Duo had moved to one of the side stations and was beginning to sort the recordings this site seemed to automatically make. "Lemme see if I can get us a count of how many there actually were."

"See if the database will give you anything on the ships while you're at it," Wu Fei ordered. "The more information we have, the better off we should be."

"Yeah, yeah!" the American snapped. "Make yourself useful and take over the monitoring board why don't ya? We'll wanna know what the various governments are gonna be doing about this. It's a safe bet they'll be sending in some serious forces. Be nice to know how many and when to expect 'em!"

"Quatre," Zechs voice suddenly carried a command tone that made all the pilots jump slightly, "set up a watch rotation for the monitoring board. Four hour watches, full twenty-four hour coverage. Include everyone. Mariemaia can handle this kind of task as readily as Heero can. Set up a second rotation for two hour daily language training. We've all been working on it fairly well and we can all understand enough to be able to recognize when something major is happening, which is why we can include everyone on the monitoring watch. But it now appears we may be in a physical area of space that could become a battleground on very little notice. We all need to be much more fluent than we are."

"Right," Quatre nodded sharply, cutting off any argument any of the rest of them might have made with his ready agreement.

Zechs turned to Duo. "Maxwell, you and Quatre get together this evening and lay out a grid for your scouting. I want a place to move to if we have to evacuate this location. I'll put in a call to J to see if he had any other place on this colony scouted as well."

"Yeah, I can do that," Duo agreed.

"Before he does, I need to work on his Gundam," Heero said flatly. "I've found a way to boost the effectiveness of the n-jammer cancellers and strengthen them at the same time. If we have to go out and fight, or especially if Duo has to take Deathscythe out near a battle, that could be critical."

"How long will the job take?" Zechs asked.

"I don't know," Heero replied honestly. "I don't know how J and G rebuilt each of our machines or jury rigged the cancellers into each one. But once I figured it out, it took me about three hours to get Wing reworked."

"Quatre," Relena suddenly spoke up, "since you're the one getting stuck making up rotation lists, there is another pair that are going to be important and that must not interfere with the first two you are setting up. Please set up the cooking roster and the clean up roster as well. And you can include everyone on those too. I've learned that Mariemaia is an excellent cook and of course, we all can do dishes."

"Ah, Relena, are you honestly sure you want to eat something Duo made?" Quatre asked.

"If his first efforts are not good, well, it will give him incentive to learn, won't it?"

"She's scaring me," Duo said warily.

Relena just smiled sweetly at him. Heero faded back slightly, dead sure he never wanted her smiling at him like that. There was serious steel behind all that sweetness and he knew Duo saw it too. There was a definite nervousness in his eyes and the smile he was giving her back wasn't real steady. Relena recognized his understanding, sweetened her smile a bit more, then left to make them all lunch.

"I trust you will learn to cook in a hurry, Maxwell," Zechs said calmly. "I don't think you'll enjoy the alternative."

"We got hot dogs," Duo told him. "I'm good."

Merquise chose not to comment on that.

They could do nothing but watch as the pirates stripped out what they wanted and left. Duo managed to isolate images of seventeen distinctly individual mobile suits, eight with the attack on the Aube station and nine involved in taking the Alliance base. He also got enough clean ship pictures to allow them to verify and identify four different pirate groups as being involved.

About eight hours after the pirates had gone, both bases erupted in massive internal explosions. Neither was completely shattered but if there had been any survivors, they were gone now. Someone was making some very viciously brutal statements here.

Heero was upside down in the back of Sandrock, having already finished the Deathscythe and the Altron, when Wu Fei came to report the latest of the pirate's gestures. He just nodded. There was something going on. This had been a challenge. He just wished he knew who they were after.

* * *

Kira rolled sharply to his left as a bright bolt of energy seared past Strike-Freedom's right shoulder. A fast turn and he snapped off a single shot back, having the satisfaction of seeing it splash directly in the center of the other's shield. Then he was doing an instant back flip to avoid the return fire. This time though, he felt the shot graze his suit. Damn it, Yzak was getting good with that blasted rifle! And even with all their weapons cut to one-quarter power, he was still scratching the paint!

"Can't dodge forever Yamato!" Joule crowed.

"Of course not." Kira agreed, completing the flip, putting the rifle back on its hip mount, hitting the thrusters very hard and drawing the beam saber all at the same time.

"Yaaah!" Yzak hadn't quite been ready for that. But he did get the shield up in time, stopping Kira's attack. And he was quick enough drawing his own saber. The exercise continued as a saber duel for another fifteen minutes before Dearka called time.

"Well, Commander Joule, that was a solid eleven percent improvement in performance over two days ago," Dearka reported as the trainer analysis came up. "You just posted a combat efficiency of ninety-two percent!"

"Wow, that's great Yzak." Kira grinned broadly. "Considering you just picked up the Command Duel a week ago, it's spectacular!"

"Not as much as you might think," Yzak denied. "It really is set up almost exactly like the Duel was. There are a few more bells and whistles and the power is exponentially greater, but the handling characteristics are amazingly similar. It's like renewing an old friendship."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Dearka said quietly. "The techs have been letting Shiho and me familiarize ourselves with our Blitz-Raider's cockpits. Its almost scary how much like the Buster it is."

"How does Shiho like hers?" Kira asked.

"Well, it isn't DEEP Arms," Dearka grinned. "But I think she's getting over that. She's as good as admitted the controls are laid out better and that they're easier to handle. She likes the balance in the weapons load-out too. DEEP Arms is a good combat suit but it's pretty much a one trick pony as far as major weapons goes. The Blitz-Raider is a lot more versatile all the way around. And Shiho is a girl who appreciates being able to change the game without notice. Once we actually get our hands on them and can test their real maneuverability, I think she'll be content to let the old suit go."

"Have you two decided how you're going to personalize your suits yet?" Kira wondered.

"Yeah. We gave it a lot of thought too. You had a real valid point there the other day, about how it's useful if the enemy can't readily tell them apart. So we've decided to keep the differences fairly subtle. She's going to use a blue that matches DEEP Arms as an emphasis color. I'll be using a deep green in the same tone family. We've worked with the Armory One techs to set up the pattern for the colors to cause the least disturbance to the Mirage Colloid that's already in place and we will be using matching patterns for both suits. They will be different all right, but it won't hit you in the face in combat."

He chuckled. "Shiho figured it'd also lead to confused enemy pilots who, not knowing who was who, would either over or under estimate us based on which one they thought they were facing too."

Kira didn't laugh. "She's right you know. Oh, it won't happen all the time but there will be times when it will. And those times could well save your lives. The two of you have done a very smart thing there with your relatively close colors and choosing to use matching patterns."

"You know Kira; we just might want to set up the rest of the Team along those same lines," Yzak said thoughtfully. "We pick a base color and have all the suits painted the same. Then we decide on two to four individualizing patterns and no more than a dozen colors and let the pilots pick from those. If we keep the patterns simple and their scope limited while making sure the colors are all fairly subtle against our base choice, we'll be able to recognize everyone but the enemy won't."

Kira thought about it for several minutes, turning the idea over to look at it from several angles. "I like it. Our base color should be a medium to charcoal gray."

"Why?" Dearka and Yzak were both taken aback. "That's dead dull."

"Yes, but it's also the color ZAFT and the people of the PLANTs associate with service personnel. What color are aide's uniforms, eh?" He leaned back in his seat, a small frown of concentration on his face as he tried to make them understand what he was going for here. "This Team we are going to attach to FAITH Command, have you given any thought to how you want the members to see themselves? Or to how you want the people of the PLANTs to see them?"

Yzak's eyes widened in abrupt understanding. "No, I hadn't. And you're right, I should have."

Dearka caught on then and shook his head, exasperated with himself. "Oh brother, could have made one huge and real permanent mistake here, couldn't we?"

Commander Yamato simply nodded. He didn't need to say anything more. They had the idea now and he was curious to see what they'd do with it.

"So the image you want is service?" Dearka asked.

"Not exactly," Kira said slowly.

"No," Yzak snapped, "we don't want an image, we want a mindset. This Team isn't going to be about glory, or fame, or getting your picture on the news. We will go from the outset with the idea that the goal here is to be the first responders for the PLANTs. That we are our nation's servants, nothing more but definitely nothing less. If we do this right, Strike-Freedom will be seen as an anomaly, a special circumstance allowed into the unit because it was the personal suit of the first Deputy Commander of the Reformed FAITH. The muted colors will become their own statement of service to the whole over advancement of the individual."

He gave Yamato a long stare. "They really did teach exceptionally odd classes in that computer engineering program you were in."

Kira returned a small grin. "Nope, I keep telling you, I learned all this being dragged around the political parties at Aube. You haven't lived until you've watched a Serin, a Sahaku, an Athha, and a couple representatives from the Atlantic Federation all make polite conversation while trying to kill each other over oysters and Champaign."

"The thought gives me hives," Yzak muttered.

"Just hives?" Dearka asked. "I'd expect full color nightmares at the very least."

"It wasn't fun," Kira agreed drily. "But I must admit it was a remarkable form of education all the same. Scary too. That much hate up close and that personal is very, very disturbing."

"I'll bet!" Dearka said feelingly.

Kira shook his head. "Honest, the most terrible thing about it was the way they all failed to see past their own shells. None of them, not even Cagalli that day, was willing to look past their own rigid image of 'how things should be' to see what anyone else might be seeing. I could see the Second Valentine War in that one meeting. I could see it coming, knew it would happen, and knew there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it. It was the future in one embittered nutshell with overpriced bubbles brought along to disguise what was really happening. It drove home Reverend Malchio's lessons about honestly listening to everyone who speaks to you like nothing else ever could have."

"So that's why you always seem so focused when someone talks to you," Dearka said quietly.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And you got this charcoal gray idea out of listening did you?" Joule asked.

"Ah, no, that was more just watching how people behaved. It's really interesting but people mostly do seem to tend to behave in the way society expects. And in PLANT society, a gray uniform indicates one of two statuses: ship captain, where service, competence, loyalty, and leadership are expected, or officer's aide, where the expectations are service, competence and loyalty. Notice any overlap there?"

"Damn it, Yzak! Why don't we see these things first?" Elsman was not happy.

"Because we're too close to them," Commander Joule didn't sound disturbed at all. "This is exactly why I more or less trapped him into the job, Dearka. He has a completely outsiders viewpoint. He didn't grow up here. Our conventions aren't so much a part of him that he can't see them any more. He's going to notice and remark on a great many things that are simply background to us. And we'll end up a stronger, much more aware organization for it."

There were several minutes of silence, then Kira Yamato suddenly remarked quietly, "You know, I think I appreciate the honesty there."

"Thank you," Yzak replied with simple dignity. "I will try to never lie to you. Your hearing is too sharp for it to start with and I think you'd stop sharing your observations if you ever caught me doing that to you."

"You're right, I would."

That flat response might have set off another uncomfortable silence but it didn't get the chance. All three of their suit comms chimed at the same time. Shiho appeared on the viewscreen, the exercise/practice being close enough to Aprilius City to allow for real-time communications. Her grim eyes were a kick-to-the-gut warning.

"Commander, we've just received word from Aube that there has been an attack on their new defense station at L-4 West. The report is preliminary but the initial indication is that the base was completely wiped out. No survivors were reported."

"WHAT?" Yzak shouted.

"The base is gone," Shiho repeated evenly. "Perhaps even more telling, it seems the new Alliance defensive station at L-4 East was similarly eliminated, apparently at the same time. No survivors reported there either."

"Any idea who it was?" Kira asked neutrally.

"Oh yes. They made no effort to hide their identities or to destroy the security records. It was the Red Swords, all seven ships worth and Terasawa's three Vultures. They slaughtered everyone they found, then stripped the place of all military supplies. Only after they had those loaded did they go back for some general looting. The Alliance has supplied no specific data on who hit their base other than it was a confederation of pirates with at least ten ships."

"Ten ships for each base then," Dearka noted, eyes narrowed. "Something's up."

"What's ZAFT's response so far?" Yzak demanded.

"Seven _Nazca_'s and six _Laurasia_ class ships have left our lunar facility, headed for the site of the Aube base. They should get there by early day after tomorrow. We know a significant fleet has left the Alliance's lunar base going to their ruined station as well. It should arrive about the same time."

"Kira, Dearka, we're going into base!" Yzak snapped. "There's nothing effective we can do out here."

"Right," Kira agreed and turned Strike-Freedom toward the mobile suit base on the 'lower' half of the hour-glass that was Aprilius City. Dearka's GOUF was right behind him while the Command Duel held tail-guard. They raced for the base at the best speed the GOUF could sustain, which was well below what the two Gundams could have maintained.

As they cut across the sky, Kira gave serious thought to seeing about upgrading the GOUF units of their new command with both extra thrusters and nuclear engines. He didn't want to either have to wait for them or leave them behind in a battle just because the four Gundams would be so much faster. But that was not going to be a popular idea at all; he would have to be very careful about when and how he introduced it. And at the moment he had more important things to worry about.


	14. Chapter 14

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 14 Sally soldiers on. Kira makes a fascinating discovery. Hot dogs vs Sewer Squirrel. Captain Terasawa prepares to live down to her reputation.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Sally Po watched the second squad run through their turn in the simulators. The first squad sat, sweat drenched and panting, in the recovery area being plied with water and high protein snacks. They were doing well, very well. The skills they had as aircraft pilots, while akin to those needed by a mobile suit pilot, were not the same and often required a wrenching mental adjustment or two. The Chang Team was making those adjustments faster than she'd dared hope.

Still, they were by no means ready to meet the experienced pilots of Crimson Dawn's Sagittarius suits. Those people had proven to be ruthless and utterly merciless. To lose to them was to die, period. They took no prisoners, ever. When they overran a base, there were no survivors, not even the youngest child among the base families was spared. If you believed in the 'disease' of democracy, you weren't worth keeping alive it seemed. And your family was disposed of least the trait be genetic and passed down to trouble the new rulers later.

That savagery had the immediate effect of cowing most of their opposition as it was intended to. But it did not stop the remaining Preventers from resisting. Two bases, Bastogne in France and Pearl Harbor in Hawaii were standing firm. Both had local traditions of defiance in the face of heavy odds to bolster both their personnel and the surrounding populations. What remained of the ESUN's uniformed resistance was centered there.

The covert resistance was scattered across the globe. Each of the hidden retreats Une and Sally had set up had become the hub of a network of small attack groups. Nothing was launched from the hub itself. It was very important to keep that concealed as long as possible since what supplies they had were stored there. But the networks operating from the hubs were very active. The Dawn had been savagely stung more than once now by carefully planned raids carried out by those remote sited teams.

The only exceptions were the four mobile suit training sites. They were self-contained worlds completely sealed off from the rest of the universe. What hope for the future the rest of the Preventers had rested on their shoulders. They simply could not be found. So no physical contact of any kind could be allowed. Electronic contact was strictly limited as well.

So far, the intensity of the training regime had kept the troops from getting noticeably restless. But it had only been a month. Eventually, they would be fully trained. That point was probably less than three months off. Sally did not expect boredom to wait that long to surface though. These boys would be getting good enough to have spare time well before they were actually ready to face the enemy. She needed a distraction, one that would keep them inside the base. Unfortunately, she didn't have it. At least, not yet.

"Getting good, aren't they?" Johnny Morgan slid into the seat beside her. The sealing of the training site had trapped him here. And he _was_ restless. If he'd been a bit more of a prankster, he'd have been dangerously similar to Maxwell right about now. Thank God he didn't have that boy's manic energy!

"Yeah they sure are," Sally agreed. "What did Une tell you?"

"Pretty much same old same old. Her eyes and ears though are beginning to pick up the first faint hints that the general public is starting to realize what these people really are."

"Oh! That's a lot faster than I thought they'd catch on!" Sally sat up straight. "What did she say seems to be enlightening them?"

"Word of mouth about what happens to the civilians at Preventer bases and government compounds." Johnny said grimly. "They've got an iron grip on the formal news but they can't stop people from talking. And they can't stop the pictures and the short film clips from getting passed hand to hand either. The really well protected Internet sites are still up and running too. So word is getting out, and it is not being taken well."

"No, I'll bet it isn't." She smiled wickedly. "On top of the confusion their political arm seems to be going through trying to get organized, I'd say this will help us a great deal. It's really kind of strange, they're pretty good militarily but the political leadership gives every indication of being involved in an internal power struggle of some sort. This Sun of theirs is not the man in absolute charge of things he'd like everyone to think he is. He's running a good bluff right now but he's in severe trouble if anything ever gives him a serious challenge. He can't control his 'Planets' well enough to mount an effective counter offensive."

"Oh, I'll agree with that. Une said something very like that. She can't wait until she can call the Gundam Pilots out of hiding."

"I hope they have something like their old Gundams to bring with them," Sally said quietly. "Because they'll need them. In control of his Planets or not, the soldiers themselves will put up a savage battle. And they have a damn good suit there in that Sagittarius. Putting an ammo reservoir in the legs was a clever move. They can fight three times as long as a regular Serpent with that reserve. So they can bring fewer units to the battlefield and, unless we can knock them out quickly, they will still win."

"And they have a lot more Sagittarius suits than we have Serpents." Morgan noted unhappily.

"They have manufacturing facilities too." Sally reminded him. "Another thing we lack. No, we need the boys to come back with mobile suits capable of taking out a lot of these new suits or we're going to be sitting up Duo's stinky proverbial creek with no paddle."

"We'll have to trust Vicente on that. There isn't much about destroying space based sites Rojas doesn't know. All our surviving forces in space are under his control. He'll get their factory."

She just shook her head grimly. "It's not a matter of if; I know he'll do it. It's a matter of when. Saito got lucky with that strike he managed at Fort Bragg; it had to hurt them to lose almost sixty mobile suits in one fight. But we haven't had another break anything like it since. We need that factory taken out or at least crippled for a good while. If it isn't, the boys will return to find themselves facing a thousand of the enemy with whatever suits they have and our hundred and fifty Serpents. Not even the Gundam Pilots will be able to manage a win against odds like those."

"It'll take them a while to build that many." Morgan told her reassuringly. "Remember, wherever this plant is, it isn't large and it isn't building dozens of suits a day. In fact, given the rate of reinforcement and replacement we've seen, they may not be building more than twelve to fifteen actual suits per day. And we're destroying six to nine a day on average all across the globe and in space. So call it seven down a day to be conservative and make it fifteen up to be alarmist and that gives them a gain of eighty suits every ten days. It'll take almost four months for them to get to a thousand."

She blinked at him. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

"Ah, yeah."

"You know, sometimes you _really_ remind me of Maxwell."

"What!?!"

* * *

Lacus stared at the brief report in her hands. It had come in yesterday. The probe set out in the L-4 cluster was drifting near the Mendel Colony now, where it had taken up its long term station. And it had recorded two fifteen second incidents that matched the energy patterns Dean Koudelka predicted for the strangers based on the one sample they had. But the visual recording of the area showed nothing. Which should she believe? Or did the strangers have a version of Mirage Colloid too?

They could not have turned up, if they in fact had, at a worse time or place. The Supreme Council had finally bowed to political reality and had agreed to provide Foreign Minister Pearson with his escort on his trip through the L-4 colonies. Due to the recent pirate attacks though and even though there were now considerable navel forces in the area, his own government had ordered him to do most of his checks from a safe distance. Mendel was the only one he was going to be getting close to. They were allowing that only because everyone knew there were recovery teams on the colony. It was no secret that there had been significant efforts made to clean up the space around it to make it safe for the supply ships those teams required to continue their work.

Since there were so many fleet assets already there though, the Council had agreed they would send a single _Nazca_ class with the actual flotilla accompanying the Minister. She wasn't happy about it but the greedy man had also gotten his way about the 'quality' of his escort. Yzak, Kira, and Dearka would be the mobile suit contingent aboard the _Nazca_. He wouldn't have gotten Dearka if a last second push by the workers at Armory One hadn't seen his Blitz-Raider completed the day before yesterday and delivered this morning, two weeks ahead of schedule.

They'd tried to get them both finished but a hidden flaw in a structural member in Shiho's machine had snapped, costing them to not only the time to replace that piece but to scan the entire suit to be sure there weren't any more like it. They'd taken the time to scan Dearka's as well, which was why it hadn't been delivered as soon as it was completed. No more substandard materials had been found in either suit. Still, it would be another five days before Shiho's Blitz-Raider would be ready now and the Foreign Minister's party was leaving in the morning.

"Still working?" Kira's voice asked quietly.

Lacus looked up and realized it was much later than she'd thought if he was back already. "I seem to have lost track of time."

He grinned, laughter dancing in his lavender eyes. She loved those eyes; she could lose herself in them in perfect safety. She loved all of him really. And she cursed the choice they'd made after the first war to wait until they were twenty to marry. Because now that she was Chairwoman for who knew how long, he would not. He had some bee in his bonnet that it would hurt her standing in the PLANTs and he would do nothing he thought would endanger her good name.

Then he was standing beside her chair. "Come on, lets at least go sit somewhere where you can be more comfortable than in that rock of a chair."

She paused long enough to order tea and small sandwiches for two before she let him lead her over to the deeply comfortable couch with the high back that sat in the private corner of the office. It was the space she used to hold meetings that had to be very personal and very confidential. This area with its three chairs, couch, and small table was quite carefully designed. Nothing said here could be heard five feet away.

She realized she'd brought the report from the probe at Mendel when Kira reached out to gently tug it out of her hand. In as much as she saw to it that there was always something official on hand when she was alone with Kira, it was as good as anything else. And considering all things, perhaps it was a very good choice today.

So when he went to simply put it on the table for show, she stopped him. "Kira, you should actually read this one. It's the latest from the new probe out by Mendel. And it has a very, very interesting bit of data in it."

He went quite still, eyes locked on hers, searching. "They're here, aren't they?"

"The evidence is not good enough to say that. Read it and tell me what you think. I need your opinion on this."

Kira was deep in the report when the tea and food arrived. He took the cup Lacus put in his hand and drank absently. She took it away from him as soon as his hand began to wave it vaguely toward the table, knowing he'd drop it if she didn't. He went through the entire report fairly quickly once, then much more slowly a second time, with long pauses while he stared off at an invisible horizon, mind working furiously. He ate the two sandwiches she put in his hand and drank a second cup of tea as well, paying no attention to what he was doing. Finally, he returned to the section that contained the two fifteen second anomalies and worked through it word by word. Then he put it down very slowly.

"Kira?"

"They're here," he said flatly. "I can't prove it, the evidence doesn't support it, but I know it. They're here. And they are trying very hard to stay the hell out of sight."

He looked up. "Is there any video to go with this?"

She picked up the tea tray and set it on the floor. A tap on the table top brought up an imbedded keyboard. A few quick touches and a virtual screen was showing him the vid recording from the probe. Lacus tapped in a couple other commands and a muted audio signal announced the beginning and the end of each of the anomalies.

"This isn't sharp enough," Kira muttered, hands going out to the keyboard.

As his fingers danced lightening fast across the keys, the screen both enlarged by a factor of three and moved back by a factor of two. He replayed the six minute segments that held the two incidents again. A quiet grunt, and he was giving new orders to the computer. This time the image was so much more intense it startled her. He let it play again.

Lacus frowned. "Something changed."

Kira was grinning fiercely. "Yes, it did! Let's see if I can get the image to take one more level of refinement. And we're going to play it at a quarter speed too."

The screen enlarged slightly again and once more moved back somewhat. The image this time was so sharp she felt she could reach out and touch the wall of the colony or catch one of the bits of free floating scrap. Watching at one quarter speed made things appear to move very oddly too.

Then something on the right hand side of the screen caught her attention.

She stared at it with a frown, unable to determine just what was different there. And it was moving too, coming across from the right and heading toward the left. But, there wasn't anything there! This was crazy! Then the audio cue beeped. Oh, that told her a lot, of nothing!

Still, it might have a shape. It was so hard to tell. Then, when it was in the center of the screen, Kira froze the image. And suddenly she saw something.

It was more of an outline created by breaking up the background. It was not easy to follow it. But once you did, you could see the shape there, a strange and yet familiar shape. _That_ was a mobile suit.

"It would seem their version of Mirage Colloid isn't quite as good as ours," Kira said softly. "But you'd really have to be looking hard and still get very lucky to spot him anyway."

"I think this might be the black one, with the bat-like wings folded over it," Lacus said, leaning forward to stare at the shape. "It seems to have that extra bulk on the torso."

"They took six n-jammer cancellers and we've only seen two and a half suits," Kira cautioned. "But I do agree that it is possible that it is the black one based on the shape of the outline."

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Scouting," Kira answered promptly. "Remember, they can't know much about our space. They'd have to get here to really look around. We've never spotted any kind of space-going probe using their tech so chances are they came over pretty close to blind. What ever pushed them to come must be deadly serious. Any way, this stealth suit is looking around for them."

"I wonder if it's armed."

"Oh, I'd bet on it. I wouldn't go out in an unarmed suit in a strange universe no matter how invisible I thought I was. I couldn't afford to be wrong about that and I'd have no way of knowing if the local's tech could spot me. And I'm not going to assume that anyone who's qualified to pilot any mobile suit is stupid enough to do that. No matter where he, she, or it's from!" Kira said feelingly.

He looked soberly at the indistinct, barely there image. "Whoever he is, that's a remarkably brave man Lacus. I wouldn't want to be doing what he's doing, venturing out into an alien space hoping they can't see me, trying to see if my people are safe."

She could only nod in agreement. It was actually difficult to imagine the kind of courage it would take to do something like that. How much worse must it be there now with all the ships and mobile suits in the area because of the pirate attacks? And did they understand what had happened? Even if they had the equivalent of Gundams themselves, this had to be a terrifying situation.

"I want to speak to him Kira! I want to ask him why he's come here."

Kira blinked at her. "Ask him how?"

"Pardon?"

"Ask him how, Lacus? I honestly wouldn't expect a person from another dimension to speak our language."

"Oh, yes, that was a very foolish oversight wasn't it?"

He reached out and gathered her into his arms. "You're nervous. I'm nervous too. Anyone who has a thinking mind should be at the thought of meeting strangers from someplace so impossible to imagine. Just because the one example we saw looked like he might resemble a human doesn't mean anything really. No, you're right to be concerned. Or even outright scared."

"What should we do? I'm supposed to lead the PLANTs and my mind is a perfect blank!"

"We start by remembering that they only took six cancellers. Now, those are a very advanced and exceptionally complex piece of technology involving both the materials used in them and the way they're assembled. Given what we've seen so far of their tech, they don't have the capability to copy them. So six suits are the most we can expect to see cross. Between us all, and in case of an alien invasion even the North Atlantic Federation would stand with us, we can deal with six mobile suits if worst came to worst and they turn out to be hostile."

"Yes, I believe we could manage that. And I think you're right about the Federation too. They would chose the enemy they know over the one they don't."

"They would choose the enemy they knew had a human origin over one they knew didn't you mean," Kira said snidely.

"Don't be rude, it's unbecoming."

"It was honest."

"That does not make it any more becoming."

He shrugged and picked up the overall issue again. "You asked what to do. At the moment, do nothing drastic. I'll call Yzak and Dearka over here and show this to them. Then we wipe it. You have the original vid record so I can reproduce it any time I need to. But we do not need it sitting around for someone with too high a security clearance and too small a brain to find. You send for Athrun. You have him do this, I'd tell him what to expect before you do unless you want to give him a heart attack, and let him take a copy of the original vid back to Cagalli and Kisaka. Make sure he wipes his work too! After that, you and Cagalli consult. While all this is going on, we get a few more probes set around Mendel Colony and see if we can spot exactly where they're based. Then, when you decide, we try making contact."

He smiled gently at her. "And we will hope that they are friendly. Now, does that make sense to you?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Yes it does. I'll have Dean Koudelka deliver all the finished probes she has to your ship tonight. You can program them and drop them as you go through the L-4 cluster. I would not want Minister Pearson to think there was any special interest in Mendel Colony and we really shouldn't neglect the others either. We don't know if they've established more than one site. If she sends enough, put two probes on each colony and all the leftovers on Mendel."

"Given the recent attacks, we can explain them away as watchers for pirate activity. And since they will pick them up too, it isn't even a lie." Kira nodded. "With Mendel the only colony with a population, never mind how small or fluctuating it is, putting more there shouldn't be suspicious."

"You call Yzak, I'll call the Dean."

* * *

Quatre had the watch when Duo went out for the 'afternoon' scouting run. He was carefully logging in the bits of debris that were floating around the station to give himself something to do for four hours. Most weren't large enough to matter, even to a mobile suit. The people doing the searches here had cleared the local space very well. There were very good lanes in and out of the colony's immediate space. Duo's flights had shown that someone had pushed the trash back almost thirty kilometers and he'd gotten a few shots of what could only be local work craft tossing materials further out than that to open the lanes even wider.

So the odd, boxy thing that he noticed about twelve kilometers out caught his attention. And it secured his attention when two work craft swung around it instead of removing it. Between them, Heero and Duo had hacked them fairly deeply into this wrecked colony's mainframe. It was a real mess and they'd had to actually do some program repairs to avoid crashing the entire system a couple times. It had taught them a lot about how the locals approached computing. But it also had given them almost complete access to the security net.

Usually, they treated this as a read only access. But at the moment, it was important to find out about this box. So Quatre altered the timing of a regular scan and awaited the results. What he got sent him reaching for the comm link to the mobile suits.

"02! This is 04! Abort mapping scan of section 407A! I repeat abort scan and get out of there! There is a local probe in the immediate area with equipment on board that may possibly be able to detect your presence. Return to base at once!"

"This is 02, roger, detection possible, coming home!"

Quatre whipped out the door of the comm room and checked in the lounge. Merquise was usually there at this hour. And he was there, head bent over a Go board with Wu Fei for an opponent.

"Zechs!" Quatre called. "I have something you need to see."

He didn't have to ask twice. Merquise was on his feet and coming almost before Quatre finished speaking. Wu Fei, Heero, Dorothy and Noin followed him. Well, if Zechs thought this should be some kind of secret, he could throw them out himself. The blond Arab darted back up the hall and slid into his control seat. He sent the relevant data to the small screen at the station beside his for Zechs' convenience.

He noticed Duo had slipped over the 'horizon' as far as the probe was concerned. So if it had gotten any readings on him, it had lost his trace now. He reprogrammed one of the smallest of the colony scanners and set it to track the probe and made sure it would report to his station and his station only. The Serpent Tail people were still on the colony and they did a lot of nosing around in the security net themselves. It wouldn't do to have them discover there was someone else aboard who had similar interests.

Zechs slipped into the seat beside Quatre, who pointed at the screen and its data. He started reading. In seconds he was swearing under his breath. Heero, standing behind him, reading over his shoulder, tightened his hand on the back of Zech's chair hard enough to produce a sudden, unmistakable creak of bending metal.

"Yuy, don't break the furniture." Merquise snapped.

Heero's hand fell to his side in a tight ball but the damage was already done to the chair. Quatre gave him a small smile but Yuy's eyes had gone flat and his expression blank. It was a look the Arab associated with trouble. In the old days, it had usually meant trouble for Oz. He wasn't sure who it was meant for now.

"Uhmm." Dorothy sounded thoughtful. "I wonder if this is something they've put up because of those attacks. We've had all kinds of warcraft coming through for the past few days and a fascinating variety of mobile suits. This may just be one more piece of their very vigorous investigations."

"It could be." Zechs agreed. "But why its here hardly matters. It reads just far enough into the radio ranges to allow it to possibly make out the Deathscythe. And unless it moves off, this is going to trap our only scout suit inside with the rest of us. Leaving the pilot's temperament aside, it means our external information flow will largely dry up. The colony's scanners aren't set to give us the information we need."

"Its only one probe." Noin pointed out. If we keep track of it, Duo should be able to work in its blind spots."

"It's losing speed." Quatre suddenly reported.

"Very quickly too." Merquise said quietly.

They all watched and waited. Duo joined them, got to read the information the scan had given them, cussed the probe out, and waited with the rest of them as it gradually came to a stop about two kilometers from the colony. By this time, everyone was watching.

Then the probe began to move away from the colony. It wasn't a swift retreat. In fact, it suggested an efficient, energy conserving one. Trowa brought them all a dinner of warm sandwiches and they'd finished them all off before the probe stopped again. Now it was just inside the limits of the cleared lane. And it seemed to be staying there. When it hadn't moved in two more hours, Noin, who had taken over the watch, locked the one scanner onto it in passive mode and everyone else trooped into the lounge to discuss the situation.

"This is for shit!" Duo flopped angrily down in an overstuffed chair.

"As long as it stays where it is, you can still scout our side of the colony." Zechs pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're now cut off from fifty percent of all this place's possibilities." The American groused. "And what'll we do if they put one up on this side, eh?"

"We will sit very quietly and hope Crimson Dawn makes some huge political mistake very quickly so we can go home!" Dorothy told him astringently.

"We need them to hold off at least three more weeks." Zechs growled. "Neither Wing or Epyon will be ready before then. And the combat data J's been sending makes it pretty clear we'll need all the Gundams we can manage."

"I do not need to be shut up in this box for three weeks!" Maxwell snapped.

"And we don't need you cooped up here either." Heero agreed quietly. "But we may not have any choice in the matter."

"I could take 'Scythe and go back and help J and G finish the other two Gundams." Duo suggested hopefully.

"Not an option." Heero told him coldly. "I know you. You wouldn't stay inside that wrecked base anymore than you stay in here. And while you might be able to stand by and let Crimson Dawn troops win a fight or two, sooner or later you'll stumble on one you won't be able to keep out of. The people you rescue will have seen you. They will talk. Then everyone will know at least one Gundam is back. Given the area you'd be in, a reasonable guestimate for your operational range, and you'll have brought the enemy right down on the base, and _our_ only way home. No, you and Deathscythe stay here with the rest of us."

"Shit."

"Opinion noted."

"If you are quite finished making idiotic suggestions Maxwell, I recommend you start investigating the area we can take advantage of as long as we have the chance," Merquise said calmly. "I'm going to start organizing little exploration parties as well. This place is a regular rabbit warren and there seem to be secrets on secrets here. Yuy, please concentrate on getting as much structural data on our immediate area out of the mainframe as you can. I want Noin, Wu Fei, Quatre, and Barton to take Yuy's data and see how far they can get. If we have to break into other sections, well, we may want to consider doing it just so we have an out if we're spotted here."

He turned back to the fuming American. "Maxwell, when you aren't outside or standing watch, I want you helping Yuy. The pair of you together seems to be able to get five times the information out of that system that one of you alone can manage."

The Lightening Count turned back to Quatre. "Pull Heero and Duo out of the cooking and clean up rotation. They're far too valuable on the computer and I do not want one more variation on hot dogs served to me for at least a year!"

"Hey! They were all perfectly eatable!" Duo yelped.

"Yes," Wu Fei agreed reluctantly. "But they were completely uninspired and they all tasted the same."

"Well, yeah, hot dogs do ya know."

"Duo, I honestly don't think anyone could face them for breakfast, which is your next meal in the rotation," Quatre said gently.

"Look, dogs and sewer squirrel are the only things I know how to fix all right? And this place is real short on the squirrels so you're stuck with the dogs."

Relena stared at him. "Whatever is a sewer squirrel? It doesn't sound like something you should eat at all!"

"You don't want to know," Heero said quickly, cutting off any explanation Duo might have been inclined to make. "And you don't want to know a thing about how to catch or fix one either. Believe me please, you really do not want to know."

Relena frowned but Duo nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, it's an extreme poverty food and people who've never really experienced living with the day to day chance of starvation tend to get pretty squeamish about it. I shouldn't a mentioned it."

"But, . . . ." Relena began.

"No!" Heero and Duo chorused.

"I am not squeamish!"

"No!"

"I genuinely want to know!"

"No!"

"Tell me!"

"No!!"

"It's a rat," Zechs said wearily just to bring the argument to an end.

Relena stared at him. All five Gundam Pilots glared at him, Heero's being particularly savage. Dorothy looked rather fascinated, Mariemaia like she was going to be ill.

"A . . . . . . a rat?" Relena asked faintly, turning to stare at Duo in shock. "You were hungry enough to eat a rat?"

Duo looked back at her soberly. "Relena, think about it for a minute ok? I grew up _on_ the streets. I had no home. We were doing good when we could get a squat with three solid walls and a roof that didn't leak. But we were little kids, we could never hold on to one of those good places. Older, stronger gangs always ran us out before long and we were back to sleeping on the ground under some cardboard. We had no one to look after us and we weren't welcome at the soup kitchens because there were just too many of us. So we either stole our food, picked scraps out of the garbage, or caught rats. And of those options, the healthiest choices were stealing and catching rats, cause you never knew how spoiled that garbage was going to be. Yeah, I've eaten a lot of rats. They beat the hell out of starving to death."

"Oh," she said faintly and sat down.

"Your handlers have never let you see extreme poverty Relena," Zechs told her quietly. "They didn't want you to know how bad things really are at the bottom of the social pile. More importantly, they didn't want you to know how large that bottom is. They knew if you found out, you'd start investigating why all the money being poured into programs to fund schools and clinics in areas like those wasn't producing either schools or clinics."

"I learned about it only by chance. I was stationed at a base next to a very squalid slum once and took it upon myself to investigate why the damn place existed and why we couldn't get it away from the base. That was when I learned a great deal about greed, cheap labor, and corrupt law enforcement. It was not a happy experience. Oh, and I never managed to move a single shack out of that slum either."

"I see," she said quietly. "It seems I have a great deal to learn myself yet. And a great deal to attempt to repair when we drive out Crimson Dawn."

"Yeah, but you've always been willing to go and look and ask the questions. People respect you for that," Duo told her. "All you need is a couple dozen on your team who're reasonably honest and won't keep data from you. You should be able to find people like that."

Trowa startled everyone when he suddenly spoke quite seriously. "You should consider asking Catalonia to be your Chief of Staff. She's smart, political as hell, knows everyone and their skeletons, and in her own strange way, is absolutely honest. She can help you find the kind of people you really need to have working for you."

Dorothy gave him a long, flat look. "You surprise me Barton. I had the impression you weren't fond of me."

"I'm not. But that doesn't blind me to your abilities."

"Indeed? I wonder if you truly understand just how unusual that is."

"I grew up among mercenaries, Catalonia. If you couldn't honestly assess both your friends and your enemies you were a dead mercenary fairly quickly. I was ten the last time I made a serious miscall about someone. I shouldn't have gotten out of that slip-up alive; I was the only one who did. It did sharpen my tendency to watch everything around me to the point of a near obsession though. One should learn from their mistakes."

Dorothy stood perfectly still, then nodded quietly. "Yes, yes one should. Thank you Trowa. I believe you've given me a good deal to think about."

"Actually, he's given me some things to think about too," Relena said thoughtfully.

"So," Duo squatted down to look her in the eye, sudden mischief bright in his. "You want me to fix you a sewer squirrel when we get back to Earth and I can catch you one?"

The former Queen of the World shocked him back on his heels. "All right, yes. I think it would be good to know what the very poorest have to eat."

"You got it," He said with a new respect.

* * *

Commander Hannam strode into the conference room with a savage confidence. The pirates waiting for him saw it. He watched all but Ruhde and Terasawa subtly give way before him. And neither of them got in his way. He gave an expansive wave toward the large conference table, indicating they should all find their seats.

Rather to his surprise, Terasawa stalked over and grabbed the one directly across from his immediately. It seemed the lady was tired of waiting for something to kill. Well, he should be able to satisfy her with what he had for them today. At least her impatience brought the others to the table quickly, unwilling to be left out of anything.

He looked around, very pleased with the showing. Not only did he have his four fleet commanders, he had five independent ship operators as well. None of them were skilled enough to be fleet leaders themselves and they were at least sharp enough to know it. No, they were here to assess the other four and maybe see about buying in to one of the established commands.

Watching the dynamics of the group on the security monitors before he'd come down, he was fairly sure the gains would go to Ruhde and Boothe this time. Napci was drinking heavily. It loosened an already clumsy tongue and made it worse. He'd managed to do a fine job of insulting at least two of the independent captains already. And of course, Terasawa was infamous for recruiting only among her own kind.

"Gentlemen, Madam, the ambush will take place at Mendel Colony four days from now." Albert swept a hand over a plate set in the table in front of him and a six sided virtual vid screen sprang into being in the middle of the table. There was a schematic on it for a very odd, open work structure that seemed to have a large number of horizontal pockets in it. It was well braced and looked to be heavily padded at the two center rings. He let them study it for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out what it was. Rather to his surprise, it was Terasawa who suddenly leaned forward and spit out a sharp curse.

"Oh, fucking shit! That's brilliant!" Her eyes were dancing with a savage delight. "How easy is it to back the ship out of it?"

"Very." Commander Hannam replied smoothly. "The intent is to deliver maximum firepower quickly after all. The ship must be able to disengage rapidly for this to be useful."

"Have you adjusted them for the various ship classes we have then?" Terasawa asked sharply, her glittering eyes never leaving the vid screen.

"The adjustments are simple to make and can be done just before we load each carrier."

"What the hell are you two blathering about?" Napci snarled.

"The frame, you blind drunk! It's for the mobile suits! It isn't practical as a general rule but considering how we're going to be running this ambush, it's damn near perfect. It'll allow a ship to bring up to thirty mobile suits into the battle instead of the four to six they can usually carry." Terasawa hissed back.

"Look at it!" She waved a hand at the schematic, grinning ferally. "It'll slow the ships down but it'll also throw a very confusing scanner signal too. We'll be able to drift right into the edge of the debris field around Currie Colony and we won't attract any attention because we won't look like ships at all. As soon as the distraction pulls the warships far enough away, we can push these into the clear lanes leading into Mendel, drop the ships back just far enough to get them clear and then we'll have all our ships and mobile suits in place to strike!"

She laughed. "And if we put some of them at Goddard Colony as well, we'll be able to seal both ends of that cleared tunnel that surrounds Mendel. Yamato and his ships won't be able to go anywhere!"

"If some of your mobile suits have beam sabers, you can cut the frames in half and push them to the sides, clearing the lane without having to give any extra ground." Commander Hannam pointed out calmly.

Terasawa just looked at him. "Cute idea but we just might need some of them to evacuate our suits before someone can turn those warships around to try to save their precious Commander Yamato. So unless you got spare parts, I think we shouldn't just cut them all up like that, eh?"

God-damned bitch was sharp today. He kept his face thoughtful though and just gave a regretful nod and a slight, possibly apologetic shrug. The other captains brushed it off, lots of ideas sounded good until you gave them a second look after all.

Fortunately, the woman wasn't particularly interested in the strategic planning of the strike itself. She'd put in a remark every now and then but she was clearly fascinated with the mobile suit frame. Good, let her concentrate on the nice techie toy. Battle planning went better when there was more to it than 'lets kill 'em' anyway. And once someone gave her a plan and explained it to her, Terasawa could carry it out effectively at least. God knew she stuck closer to them than that idiot Napci did. Perhaps everyone would get lucky and he'd die in this fight. It would be to everyone's benefit to have Carter take over command of the Red Swords.

The more she listened, the less she liked this deal. Ilene wondered if anyone else had noticed that this battle was structured to commit over eighty percent of each fleet's mobile suits. Yeah, you needed numbers if you were going to take on Yamato and Joule, who rumor said had a brand new, third generation suit of his own now. But this was only going to need half their ships. And a ships guns were nothing to sneeze at, even for Strike-Freedom.

If she was the suspicious kind, and being honest at least with herself she admitted she was, she'd say this battle was being structured to cut their mobile suit numbers down to something someone else thought he could deal with. They were likely to lose a few ships too. Which a specific party she could name wasn't likely to cry over either.

The Foreign Minister's party would be traveling on an _Agamemnon_ class carrier and three _Drake_ class escorts. She wondered just how many flunkies the stupid goose had dragged up to the PLANTs with him to need that many ships to haul the deadwood home. The ZAFT were sending a single _Nazca_ class as escort, probably counting on all the other warships, Alliance, Aube, and their own, currently milling around among the L-4 colonies to provide backup if anything went wrong. Yamato and Joule would be aboard the _Nazca_. Despite some serious efforts to relocate him, no one had been stupid enough to put a Coordinator of Yamato's rank and background, not to mention that mobile suit of his, on any Alliance ship!

As she listened to the men enthusiastically planning the fight around her, she wanted to hit them all up-side the head with a board. They were going to close both ends of the clear traffic tunnel around Mendel Colony. Fine, smart move. Now, was anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to lines of fire? Not yet. And Hannam sure was being quiet about it too. So at the rate this was developing, they were going to be shooting at Yamato's party on the same plane from both sides. Oh very smart here. They were going to lose God alone knew how many to 'friendly' fire!

It was when they all agreed to a single volley of fire from all ships main guns that Ilene knew she had to come up with a way to keep her ships and people out of that slaughterhouse. She was no stranger to bloodshed and didn't object to shedding the enemy's at all. But this, what Hannam had subtly worked them into was their own butchery. Oh, they'd get Yamato in the process. But none of the fleets that went into that fight would come out able to mount a serious challenge to the forces Blue Cosmos still commanded.

The trouble was, none of these pirate leaders had ever been in a fleet action themselves. Their military skills had been picked up mostly working either with small merc groups or, when they were younger, as crew for another pirate. They had no experience in dealing with this kind of fight. They were honestly expecting the target ships in the middle to stop all the fire from both sides. And unless she was going to break character totally, she couldn't tell them differently.

She wasn't going to do that. It wasn't time yet. There were too many things still not done. Too many people who weren't dead yet if you really wanted to cut to the heart of it. The day was getting closer but it wasn't here yet. And honestly, what did she owe a fool who couldn't look at the map he'd drawn himself to see what it was telling him?

"All right." Claude Boothe leaned back. "We have the main battle planned. Now, we need that distraction you promised. Because all this is nothing more than a lovely daydream as long as those two Aube battleships are in range. All the rest we _might_ be able to handle, but the _Izumo_ and the _Kusanagi_, no."

"Yes, I quite understand," Commander Hannam replied with a grave nod. "There are several possibilities. Which one we strike will depend on how many resources you wish to commit to the distraction. While most of the mobile suits will be assigned to the L-4 battle, the number of the remaining units you make available will have an effect on which targets become practical."

"Yeah, I get that," Napci growled. "Now, what're the choices eh? Tough to know what we want to commit until we know what we can pick from."

Well, well, an intelligent comment out of old George. Maybe he should get this drunk more often. Or not, as she watched his head nod down onto his chest. Ruhde jabbed him in the ribs. It woke him up somewhat, at least enough that he seemed to be following the conversation again.

Hannam looked annoyed. Tough. They all glared at him, making it quite clear that he wasn't getting anything promised before they knew what they were going for.

The man knew when to cut his losses. He shrugged and brought up the vid screens again. This time though they were showing a map of the Moon. There were five lurid red circles on it.

"First possibility. There is a small Alliance base here in Armstrong Crater. It is reasonably well defended for its size but the two _Drake_'s that are based there are now part of the patrolling group at L-4. It should be vulnerable to an attack requiring no more that four ships and a couple dozen mobile suits."

"What's there that would bring them running?" Ruhde asked. "Or do you think just hitting the base itself, because it's on the moon and so close to much more sensitive targets will do it?"

"That and the base commander is Admiral Gorman's son," Hannam replied.

"Ah, yes, the good Admiral is popular right now isn't he?"

"Yes, now, second possibility. This is a ZAFT supply station on the dark side of the Moon. It is quite well hidden. We wouldn't know about it if someone hadn't gotten drunk at the wrong party and tried to pick up the wrong girl. It's amazing what some people will say in the middle of having sex." He offered them a very prudish look that drew laughter.

"Is it far enough out from any other ZAFT assets to allow us to loot the place or is destroying it the best we can do?" one of the independent Captains asked.

"I suppose that would depend on how quickly you could take it." Hannam tapped his lip thoughtfully. "It is fairly remote, you should be able to snatch at least some materials I would say."

"Right, what else you got?" Napci clearly wasn't impressed so far but both targets were large enough to draw a good chunk of the forces here. She wasn't sure they were big enough though to pull both those Aube battleships. And if even one of the _Izumo_s stayed, the whole ambush was likely to fail. At the very least the casualty rate would take a sharp upward jump. Yamato was a popular man with the Aube.

Hannam ignored the tone of voice and moved briskly on. "Third is a civilian target. No serious immediate defenses. Its one of the secondary tourist stops on the so-called 'Copernicus' tour. But there will be two shuttle-loads of school kids there from one of the exclusive academies from Earth among those tourists. You'll be able to spot them by their school uniforms. Their parents are all stinking rich."

"Ransom!" Napci yelled. "Now you're talking!"

From the murmur going around, it was talking to most of the men here. She couldn't disagree. It was a soft target, would be poorly defended relative to the other choices, and offered a very high return. It was so good in fact, it could set off some serious arguments about who got to go on the relatively safe diversion and who got to face Yamato in a fight to his death.

And that was exactly what happened. She stayed out of the arguments altogether but everyone else was getting dangerously angry. Damn Hannam! Hadn't the fool given this any thought at all before he'd tossed this juicy steak down in front of the hyenas? They were pirates! What the hell had he expected? That they'd fight over the chance to get themselves killed? God dammed Blue Cosmos bigoted idiot!

When Napci surged to his feet, hand cocked to catch the knife he had tucked up his sleeve and Mitchell of the _Cleaver_ did the same she knew it was time to intervene. If those knives were drawn, you could kiss the ambush goodbye. Trust was a fragile thing among their kind and this would cut its scrawny throat.

"HANNAM" she screamed suddenly, shocking everyone into sudden stillness.

In the abrupt silence she asked coldly, "What the hell is the damned fourth option? The third one seems a bit divisive."

Men who had been on the verge of trying to kill each other seconds before stepped back, abruptly reminded just why they were here in the first place. The looks they exchanged could still scorch the paint on their ship's hulls but the weapons stayed in their sheaths. Bodies settled slowly back into chairs until everyone was back in their seats.

"The fourth option?" she prodded when Hannam just stood there like a log.

"Ah, yes." He came to life abruptly but there was a look in his eyes she was very familiar with. He was a man who had just been standing on the brink of absolute disaster. And he'd been saved from it by no action of his own. He nervous, angry, and amazed he was still alive. It wasn't a good combination when you were supposed to be leading men as touchy and violent as this gang of thieves, cutthroats, and, too many times, cowards.

"The fourth option." Hannam waved a hand at the last circle, set well away from all the others. "This actually isn't a standing target. It's a memorial service that will be taking place two days from now in Endymion Crater. There will be dignitaries on hand from both the Earth Alliance and the ZAFT. A permanent, oh I suppose one could call it a shrine, is being dedicated and the names of all the fallen are to be included. There is quite a list of names attending. Foremost among them is Commander Mu La Flaga himself. Athrun Zala will be there, Commander Andrew Waltfeld is attending. Admiral Zeigler will be there from the ZAFT along with Commanders Thoms and Mansfield. The Alliance is sending Admiral of the Fleet Kim Jun Moon and . . ."

Her mind went bright with shock. "WHO DID YOU SAY THEY'RE SENDING!"

Ilene Terasawa was on her feet, her hand locked on the front of Hannam's uniform before she realized what she was doing or how she'd gotten to his side of the table. "Who did you say is coming?"

Hannam wasn't completely stupid. He realized which name had set off this reaction. "Admiral of the Fleet Kim Jun Moon."

"I'm taking the diversion," Terasawa told them in a tone that allowed for no discussion and no disagreement.

"Why?" Hannam had the raw guts to ask.

"Because he's the next to last one," she replied, her voice an odd silken tone that carried no sanity in it at all. "The second to the last. After him there is only Yat Sun Moon. Then the so precious, so valuable, so cherished, so god-damned _male_ line of Jun Yat Moon will finally be dead!"

"Now all of you be nice boys and keep the fucking hell out of my way," she cooed, eyes holding something akin to the fires of hell burning in them.

She dropped Hannam and strode for the door, the others ignored. There would be no arguments. She knew it. She'd worked long and hard to build her reputation for lethal insanity just for moments like this. They would not fight her for option three. Opportunities like option three would happen again and they knew it. And no one would even bother to ask about the unknown option five. For a dead man could not take advantage of a future chance and that's what anyone who got in her way was going to be; dead, very, very, very dead.

((Yes 'Father', I'm just two away from ending your precious line of studs for all time. And I won't die until I do.))


	15. Chapter 15

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 16 Lunar Distraction – remember as you reach some sections here, all the data the GW people have came from newscasts or the questionable databanks of the Mendel mainframe. Not all of that will be accurate, leading to misinformation on their parts.

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

"Trowa! Hey Trowa! Find Zechs will ya? It looks like the Serpent Tail bunch is leaving!" Duo yelled down the hall before ducking back into the comm room and his station at the boards.

Merquise must have been close by because he was there in minutes. "What's happening Maxwell? Barton said something about Serpent Tail leaving."

"That's what it looks like," Duo agreed, throwing three views from different security cameras up on the centermost screens. "They've been loading that warship of theirs since yesterday. Today they brought the perishable foods aboard and both their smaller ships pulled in behind her and took on supplies too. They closed the cargo hatches on all three ships fifteen minutes ago and have been loading straggling personnel ever since. I've seen Murakumo himself out on the dock twice in the last half hour."

"It would seem as though they don't want to be here when the Earth Alliance Foreign Minister arrives tomorrow," Zechs said drily. Keeping up with the local news was now a daily assignment for them all; it occupied almost half of their language class time.

"Yeah, well if I had my way I wouldn't be here either," Duo growled. "That guy's the kind who gave Crimson Dawn an excuse to take down the ESUN. He's a useless, self-important bag of crap surrounded by more of the same and they all waste air talking like they had something worth saying. I feel sorry for those ZAFT guys who got roped into being the dope's 'honor guard'."

He abruptly sat up straight and brought the Serpent Tail warship into a closer focus. "Ok, she's just dropped all but her power connections! And here comes Murakumo! Oh, yeah, they're leaving."

He twisted around and yelled, "Heero! Hey! 'RO! Ya wanna get in here and keep that power surge suppression program of yours under watch! We're about to get a nice one when Serpent Tail cuts their ships loose."

"I'm already here," Heero told him flatly from where he was sitting quietly at another board well across the room. "Try looking before yelling next time."

"Power surge suppression program?" Zechs asked. "Do I want to know?"

"It's an experiment," Yuy replied. "You remember last week, that power spike that cross linked the security net into the emergency network feeds? It seemed to attract a great deal of attention to the mainframe, too much of it directed at the security net. Duo and I had to work very fast to keep some of our earlier hacking from being discovered. I researched the history of the issue to find out how much of a problem it was likely to be for us, I'll give you a copy; it is significant. So I worked up a cascading series of small programs designed to control these spikes and to keep them from forcing those cross links even if they did get past the suppression efforts. Given the condition of the colony, especially it's power grid, we should have a good first test coming up when those ships uncouple from the docks power ports."

"Hatches on all ships have sealed," Duo warned less than ten minutes later. "And power couplings have dropped, . . . . . . . . now!"

"Spike suppressed!" Heero snapped seconds afterward. "No cross links detected."

"Smaller craft disengaging from last docking bolts."

"Secondary spike suppressed. Again, no cross links."

"Smaller craft now both exiting harbor mouth. Warship disengaging last docking bolts, engines firing."

"Second major spike suppressed. Cross link averted."

"Warship now exiting harbor mouth."

"No further power irregularities noted."

"Nice work Yuy," Merquise said quietly. "The fewer reasons there are for eyes to turn this way the better."

"Thank you. The emergency network here appears to broadcast on frequencies in use by the active colonies. Preventing those small intrusions should allow them to return to ignoring this colony again."

Zechs nodded, the logic was solid as Yuy's usually was. He turned his eyes back to the screen and the departing Serpent Tail ships. It gave him an odd feeling of vulnerability, seeing them leave. The group had a very significant reputation and having them here had been a kind of security in its own, rather dangerous way.

He shrugged slightly. It wasn't as though he could have afforded to approach Murakumo and hire him to play bodyguard to nine aliens from another dimension who weren't sure when they were going to be able to go home. The thought did make him smile slightly though. He wondered what the reputedly ruthlessly pragmatic mercenary would have made of such an insane job offer.

"So, Wind, you gonna have us run around with Fire this afternoon again to see if we can get past the blind hallway behind the sixth docking bay on our right, right?" Duo asked suddenly, apparently already unable to deal with the last ten seconds or so of silence.

"I'd rather have you try the corridor you found on those security level nine maps yesterday, the one that is supposed to run behind our docking bay to the next one on the left. I want to know if it's really there and what kind of facilities are attached to it."

Yuy brought the referenced map up on a secondary screen without having to be asked for it. He understood the need to keep Maxwell's mind occupied as much of the time as they could. A carefully timed check with G had resulted in a sharp decline in the amount of all forms of sugar in all meals these last two days, with a corresponding lessening of Maxwellian restlessness to something everyone else could live with while he was cooped up inside with them. Winner or Barton were fixing his coffee for him, using J's reluctantly donated tiny stock of high quality decaf and only a small amount of sugar mixed large helpings of a carefully planned blend of other sweeteners.

Zechs wasn't sure if Maxwell knew about the sugar and caffeine reduction or not. If he did, he was cooperating with it because there were no raids on the candy going on or extra coffee being made without telling anyone. But then, Duo Maxwell was a lot more responsible than his general behavior would lead one to believe. He was, when you got right down to it, a Gundam Pilot after all.

He was also the resident expert at finding secret doors. Zechs hadn't intended to send him out with the exploration team at all; he was just too valuable on the computer teamed with Heero. But when neither Barton nor Chang had been able to work out where the door in a wall was, Maxwell had gone out to find it for them. It had taken him less than ten minutes. And it took him about the same time to find the corresponding one on the other end of the 'secret tunnel'. After that, he was on the team. Winner, with his strategist's mind, took his place as Yuy's backup on the computer search; an arrangement that was working surprisingly well.

The three of them discussed the map, kept an eye on local space and in general killed time. Before long Duo's watch ended and Merquise's began. The scouting party headed out, Maxwell leading and briefing Noin as they went. Winner and Yuy went back to digging into the mainframe. Zechs, already a bit bored, turned on the local news and fed it to his station screen.

He discovered he'd timed it to catch the major international and space stories. He grimaced, these tended to be very depressing. The aftermath of a war usually was though and this one seemed to have been particularly brutal. It looked like he'd come in on the very end of one more report on the Foreign Minister's trip home. Good! He was quite tired of listening to that insipid man babble.

The image changed. Now he was looking out at what had to be a location on the Moon. But he'd never seen any lunar landscape that had _that_ kind of cooked lava appearance. Something had happened here, something serious and something very wrong. Music that could only be called a dirge was playing as the shot panned across the large crater, the entire thing covered in this misshapen material. It stopped on a very large polished stone object shaped like a compass rose.

"What is this?" Quatre was standing at his shoulder, Heero beside him, both of them staring at the screen.

"I don't know. The beginning of a news report."

"That looks like a war memorial," Heero said quietly.

Yes, it did. And that went with the music and the ruined ground. So when the camera panned around and filled the screen with a very large temporary bubble housing a reviewing stand and a speaker's podium none of them were surprised. Nor were they startled to see uniforms from all the major powers of this dimension mixed in with civilian suits. A bit surprised at the folly of such senior officers and politicians in trusting the bubble enough to shed their space suits yes, but not that they represented old enemies and neutrals from two savage wars.

When the camera zoomed in closer though they could see that not everyone was as confident as the ones they'd noticed at first. In particular, they noted a tall blond in a purple and white suit with his helmet tucked firmly under his arm and a slightly shorter, quite slender young man with eyes so green you could tell spot it even from this second quality news shot who also wore a suit and had his helmet securely to hand. They seemed to have quite a bit of security around them. The camera was very interested in them and brought them into an even tighter close up.

"Does he have _blue_ hair?" Quatre asked, sounding a bit appalled.

"Good God!" Zechs sat up sharply. "Mu La Flaga and Athrun Zala!"

"Or good doubles," Heero suggested.

"He's had that scarring dealt with," Zechs said thoughtfully. "You barely see it now and it was terribly obvious in those pictures J had of him that were taken just at the end of the last war."

"Could be good make-up," Heero noted.

"Yes, but somehow, I think these are the real La Flaga and Zala and I don't think we're looking at make-up."

"What are the feeds saying?" Quatre asked practically. "And please, try to find us one that isn't either raging against one side or the other or gushing about how touching it all is."

"Attended a few too many dedication ceremonies with Relena have you?" Yuy enquired.

"One was too many." Quatre shuddered. "You know, it tells you something about the woman's fortitude right there, that she can go to so many of those things, listen to the same speeches reworded over and over, and never say a rude word to anyone."

Merquise ignored them as he hunted among the smaller news feeds for one that wasn't ideology driven or dedicated to the fashions being worn or simply to the fandoms of any of the famous people attending the event. He knew the major news groups would be rather bland and pretty much alike. He wanted something more interesting, hopefully with more meat. He found it in the warm and oddly wise voice of a young woman working for one of the independent channels. There was a video feed with it and he changed over to it.

The view now came from inside the bubble and up in the far top right corner of the section of the press stand. This reporter clearly didn't have much status with the people seating the journalists. But she had a good eye for the composition of a picture and was quick to use her location to its best advantage in giving her audience a good overview of the situation.

"We seem to be waiting for the final members of the Earth Alliance delegation." She told them calmly, casting no blame in her tone. "In the mean time, the organizers have managed to chivy the other delegates into their seats. Of those already present, only Captain La Flaga and Commander Zala have yet to be seated. I'm told they are waiting for the final delegates."

The picture abruptly swung around, crossing a pair of small knees in a bright orange space suit before settling on a hatchway. "The Earth Alliance delegates apparently have arrived and are now expected inside the life shell momentarily."

She proved correct less than two minutes later when the hatch opened and at least two dozen people poured through it. Most were obviously security types. They carried no visible weapons but Merquise didn't doubt they had them. When you considered the arsenal Maxwell could hide in his hair alone, well, these people undoubtedly had their own means of concealing equipment too.

In the center of this troupe was a tall, blocky Asian man in a full military rig-out. Zechs still wasn't all that good with the local uniforms of the various groups but he thought this might be a fairly senior Admiral from the number of bands of braid on his sleeve. His expression was quite neutral but the girl operating the camera knew her craft. She got the world and space a clean shot of his eyes.

"I wouldn't want to be under that man's command," Quatre said evenly.

"No." Heero agreed flatly.

Neither would Zechs. He'd known officers like this one. The kind who had powerful families outside the military and who used those family connections ruthlessly to advance themselves and to crush all potential rivals. Only the mantle of Treize Khushrenada had kept him from being the target of more than one of them. But the Khushrenada name eclipsed those who would have pulled him down, and they knew what Treize would have done to anyone who dared touch his friend. And so he had survived the Academy.

"Fleet Admiral Kim Jun Moon rarely leaves Washington. It is considered a significant honor that he is attending this dedication ceremony today, only the second such he has attended for either war."

This time there was a faint tinge of opinion in her voice. She was too professional to let you hear what the opinion was but she couldn't completely block the fact that she had one. Zechs thought he could guess which way the woman might lean.

"Interplanetary News is kindly making these views of the memorial available to all."

A crisp, hard edged image of the compass rose memorial replaced the interior shots. It really was a fine piece of work. And when the camera zoomed close enough, they could read the dedication to the Battle of Endymion. Ah, so that's why La Flaga and Zala had come. La Flaga, he remembered, was known as the 'Hawk of Endymion'. Zechs frowned, trying to recall what Zala's part in that battle had been but it escaped him for the moment.

The view shifted back to the interior. La Flaga and Zala were standing with a handsome, one-eyed man, also smart enough to stay suited, and a striking brunet with the same good sense. Zala glanced up, grinned and gave a small wave. A space gloved hand at the very edge of the picture waved back. So, the reporter actually knew Athrun Zala! Interesting.

"Commander Andrew Waltfeld and Captain Murrue Ramius have come to support Captain La Flaga. This is not an easy or simple place for him to return to. But many of those lost here were his people, and he has never forgotten them."

The image swung around once more to look out the front of the bubble. Admiral Moon was now over by the podium, security scattered out around him. It rather looked like the man didn't trust the air he breathed. Merquise could only wonder if he had cause not to.

"Admiral Moon is scheduled to be the first speaker today and . . . ."

The picture suddenly focused beyond the bubble wall. Three fuzzy objects in the distance appeared to have arrested the reporter's attention. The image sharpened somewhat but the objects still didn't look like anything Zechs had ever seen before.

"What are those?" The woman muttered. "And what are they doing in what is supposed to be a closed sky? Darn it! I know this lens can zoom tighter than this!"

The picture jiggled madly for several seconds, then settled again, much clearer and far sharper than before. It also had zoomed out a good deal further. The objects seemed to have large, solid looking centers with some kind of open work structure around them that supported some other objects that Zechs couldn't identify but had a feeling he should be able to.

"Why do those look familiar?" Heero asked slowly

"You too?" Zechs replied absently as he studied the image.

"Come on, you can give me one more zoom."

The image jiggled again. This time when it settled the solid cores bore a disturbing resemblance to ships. But he wasn't sure what the things in the surrounding structure were even yet. But someone else was.

"OH MY GOD! MU!!!! ATHRUN!!!!!! PIRATES!!!!!!! THEY'RE BRINGING IN THEIR MOBILE SUITS ON SOME KIND OF CARRIERS MOUNTED ON THEIR SHIPS!" The girl screamed at the top of her lungs.

Then she turned and jumped off the press stand.

The one-eyed man she'd earlier identified as Andrew Waltfeld reached up and grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her down. She didn't reach the floor before he pushed her toward the now open hatch and Captain Ramius, who had secured her suit's helmet. As the reporter shot through the door, the Captain caught her and helped her put hers on.

"Outside Mir, now! Go hide in the rocks." The words crackled over an open comm system and out to the universe.

"But Captain!"

"There's nothing you can do to help. Make sure you're out of the way. That's the best help you can give Athrun and Mu right now. Go!"

The reporter dived for the airlock and cycled herself out of the bubble. She turned right, then left quickly. The pictures were blurry but the massive legs of a mobile suit appeared on each swing.

"Right! Akatsuki and Infinite Justice! Hurry up guys! You gotta get to your suits before those pirates get here!"

"If you'll get out of the door Missy, it'll be easier to do that."

"Sorry!" The picture scrambled forward then turned one eighty to pick up the Hawk of Endymion, helmet locked and a savage grin on his face. The shorter form of Zala was right behind him. Zala also had something in his hand.

"Mir! Turn around!" Athrun ordered. "I've got a ZAFT flight pack for you. Be careful with it, it's got a limited life. And stay away from the battle! Take your pictures from a safe distance!"

"There is no safe distance in a space battle Athrun, you know that."

"Yes, but you can at least try. He's my friend. It would hurt him if you died."

"Oh, well, all right."

"I'll see if I can slow 'em down kid. Don't be too long."

"Justice will be right behind you, Captain."

The picture jumped and jarred madly during the conversation. The odd strap drifted into sight only to be snatched away. Then it steadied again and turned to the woman's right. The Hawk was riding a zip line up to the cockpit of a tall, bright gold, somewhat strangely set up mobile suit with a rather spiky unit mounted on its back; he was almost there. She turned left and they saw Zala managing his low gravity jumps to stay close to the ground and cover it quickly. He reached his zip line as they watched and began the assent into his winged suit. So, the gold one was the Akatsuki and the winged red one Infinite Justice.

"Mir! You can't stay here! You're standing behind the primary target!"

Suddenly the ground fell away and they were moving over it very quickly. It seemed others had flight packs of some kind too. The girl squirmed around until the camera managed to get a look behind them.

The bubble was falling behind rapidly. People in space suits were still exiting the structure. Those already out were fleeing, some with skill but most without. Those who didn't know how to move in low gravity weren't getting very far very fast.

The enemy ships were backing out of the odd carriers now. The first ship was already clear and the mobile suits in that carrier were launching. The other two would clearly be free in the next two minutes. The Akatsuki was already up, a beam rifle of some kind firing. Infinite Justice was launching.

The three veteran mobile suit pilots could see it was going to be a very ugly fight. The two suits had the quality, but the enemy definitely had the quantity. Pilot skill was going to be a large issue in this one.

Zechs estimated the girl and her friends had gone about a kilometer when they landed. She'd managed to stay turned around in that awkward position most of the way, allowing anyone patched into her feed to watch the developing fight. It was still a mid-distance shoot out at this point, and the points were going to the two vets, hands down. They had taken out close to two dozen of their enemies so far without getting seriously hit in return. But that distance was closing fast and then the numbers were going to count.

"They're very, very good," Quatre said quietly. "But they're not used to working as a team."

"No," Heero agreed. "But at least they both _are_ used to covering someone else's back. You saw the red suit, the Justice, get that shield up before those shots could hit the gold one in the side?"

"Yes."

Then the wave of pirate mobile suits crashed into the two defenders and it became a beam saber fight. Agility mattered now. Speed and accuracy with your saber were the keys to survival. Effective use of the shield would keep you alive a little longer.

It was instantly clear how the two heroes had earned their reputations. They were amazing pilots and savage fighters. The foolish pirate who let himself be drawn within the actual reach of their sabers did not survive the experience.

But that didn't change the fact that there were only two of them and close to sixty of the enemy left. Some just went past them and they had no means of forcing them to stop and join the battle. Zechs just shook his head. Whoever had planned this ceremony had done one of the poorest jobs with security he'd ever seen.

"Where are their security troops?" Quatre snarled. "They should have thirty mobile suits backing those two up by now!"

"Trust issues," Heero replied drily. "Those are very senior people and very bitter enemies. Whose suits would you let get close? I wouldn't be surprised to find out that all mobile suits were deliberately kept out of the area for just that reason."

"Damn!" Zechs growled. "Hadn't thought of that but you could well be right."

The reporter and her friends had been silently watching the battle themselves. But as it got closer, it was getting more difficult for her to keep all of it in the frame of the picture. She'd zoomed out at least three times, losing detail each time to gain overall perspective. Yet as the first of the pirates approached the bubble, the mobile suit battle began to slip off the frame to the side.

"I've got to move, I'm losing image," Mir muttered.

"We've all got to move," A voice they could now identify as Waltfeld's said clearly. "We're too close and standing on open ground."

"Right. Be safe, Miriallia."

"Thank you Captain, I'll try my best."

Then the image shifted around to the nearby crater wall, which was abruptly approaching rapidly. The girl clearly knew how to handle that flight pack she'd been given as she swooped up the face of the crater wall only feet from the rocks. Then the image did a fast one-eighty and she was dropping speed. In moments, she was standing on a rock perhaps two thirds of the way up the wall and the battle was spread out before them again.

Dead center in the picture was a blood red mobile suit they hadn't noticed before. It had to have come up among the mass of suits that bypassed the firefight. Most of which, interestingly enough, were now massed between that battle and the bubble.

The red suit was stalking toward the bubble, ignited beam saber in hand. Mir had moved not only back but to the left. You could see the edge of the clear front of the bubble, the mobile suit battle, the transport ships neatly parked behind the bubble, people running for those ships, and two pirate mobile suits clearly moving into position to begin to destroy them in the next few seconds.

In the next moments, a number of things happened at the same time. The pirate suits began to strike the parked transports. To Zechs amazement, they weren't destroying anything but the engines. The blood red suit leaned in and appeared to stare around the interior of the bubble. It paused suddenly, seemingly having found what it sought, then drove the saber through the fragile wall of the bubble, setting off explosive decompression and near instant death for anyone inside who wasn't wearing a sealed space suit. Lastly, the odd spikes abruptly detached from the back of the Akatsuki. He stared in shock as they turned out to be a remote weapons system and began firing at the pirates on their own.

"You have just, . . . . . . . , just witnessed the latest atrocity by Captain Ilene Terasawa. That blood red Windam is her personal suit so she is solely responsible for the deaths of everyone without a sealed suit who was still inside the life shell here in Endymion Crater." Mir faltered only once, then her voice was even and steady.

"What _are_ those things?" Quatre demanded to know.

Heero shrugged, he had no idea. He was watching them closely though. Merquise was trying to divide his attention too many ways and so couldn't really follow anything closely. Damn it! Combat always had too much you _needed_ to know happening all at once! It was a dozen times worse when it all involved completely alien technology and situations!

"They're retreating," Heero said suddenly. "They've still got the two superior suits snarled up in that fight but look, every other pirate out there is falling back."

"Then they've accomplished their objective, what ever it was," Quatre frowned.

"They're about to disengage from the Akatsuki and the Justice too," Zechs said. "Watch the ships. See how they've begun to move? They're setting themselves up with a clear line of fire on the survivors. They're going to force the two of them to back off and let them leave."

"I'm a bit surprised they don't just kill them both," Heero remarked. "They have the fire power for it."

"No, they're multi-national heroes," Quatre reminded him. "They'd be signing their own death warrants if they did that. Not that they probably aren't already considered condemned, but if they shot that pair, the hunt would be immediate and unrelenting until they were all found and exterminated. There are people it is too dangerous to get caught killing. And thanks to the sheer number of news people around, everyone would know if it happened here."

Quatre proved accurate. Less than ten minutes later it was over. The pirates were rapidly shrinking toward the horizon, only two of the ships mounting the strange carrier devices now. The Akatsuki had one hand on the Justice, holding the other mobile suit's pilot back from doing something stupidly suicidal. And among the damaged transports, it looked like someone was taking charge. People were no longer milling around aimlessly.

But it was the small file of purposeful men moving slowly toward the ruined bubble that caught the eyes of the three visitors. Ah yes, there had been a toll from this and someone had to pick up the pieces. None of them envied those men that task.

They left the system recording the woman Mir's feed. It was clear she knew some of the major players in this world and could get close to them. She gave a concise report and provided excellent video as well. They were likely to learn more from her than anyone else reporting from the Crater today.

Then they began to replay the combat footage, the first they'd had a chance at 'live' as it were. Each suit's performance would have to be extensively analyzed; both to give them a good feel for how combat was handled here and to determine how much of a given suit type's performance was the pilot and how much was design limitations. There had been at least three different mass production type suits out there today as well as the two specials. There was a lot to work on.

The three of them dived into the data, oddly happy and completely unaware that they were. When the exploration team came back, they sucked the other three pilots into the evaluations immediately. Only Noin stood back from the fascination of performance parameters and weapons potentials comparisons. So it was Noin and Relena who noticed when the Alliance and the Aube warships gathered at the sites of their former stations and launched for the Moon: the ZAFT fleet leaving just ahead of the Aube. Each fleet left a single small ship behind to stand picket duty by their murdered base, ZAFT's patrol ship hovered closer to Mendel Colony than either base though.

Dorothy and Mariemaia came in with sandwiches and coffee for everyone. It was pointless to try to get the men to the table for a meal; you couldn't get the printouts out of anyone's hands long enough to get them out of the room. And approaching Heero at the computer was taking your life in your hands unless you were offering him more data to crunch. So Mariemaia just pushed enough paper out of the way to let Dorothy put the tray down safely and the two of them joined Noin and Relena at the monitoring station.

"They seem to be having a lot of fun," Mariemaia said thoughtfully.

"They're Gundam Pilots," Relena replied wearily. "All of them, even my brother. Put data on a strange mobile suit in front of them and they'll be up for three days straight tearing it apart until they're sure they know how to defeat it."

"Relena, it's more basic than that," Dorothy told her, watching as Duo, arms waving wildly, tried to convince Zechs of some point or other. "They're male."

"Oh." Mariemaia stared at the arguing menfolk doubtfully. "Is this what Mama means when she starts snarling about male bonding?"

"I'm not sure exactly what incidents General Une might have been upset about but, yes, this could be seen that way," Relena agreed, smiling as Quatre and Wu Fei joined the lively 'discussion' Zechs and Duo were having.

"So, how long do you think we have before the trouble really starts here?" Dorothy suddenly asked quietly.

Noin didn't pretend she didn't understand the question. "I would expect something during the Foreign Minister's fly-by. That should be twenty-six local hours from now. The Serpent Tail is gone, both the Alliance and the Aube have left. ZAFT pulled out right before the Aube. The merc's timing may or may not have had outside influences but the incident on the Moon is definitely what drew off the other three."

"Yes, it was very well done," Relena agreed. "The large gathering of important personages, the mutual suspicions that kept the security too lax in the wrong places, the pirate's strike itself! They killed only the people they wanted to. Then they made sure the rest were left in a dangerous situation and in need of immediate rescue. They've focused all attention exactly where they want it, away from L-4."

"I wonder who they are after," Mariemaia said thoughtfully, reminding them all that this child had once been brought up to believe she was going to inherit the rulership of the Earth, and had the political education that post required. "The Minister doesn't seem like he's worth all this trouble. Even if he is killed here, the ZAFT has made a very good faith effort in sending Commanders Joule and Yamato as his escorts. No one will overlook that."

"It depends on just who "they" turn out to be," Noin pointed out. "The actual enemy is unknown here. Anyone with enough money and dirty connections can hire the services of pirates."

"What precautions should we take?" Dorothy asked practically.

Noin gave them all a grim look. "At the first sign of the Foreign Minister's ships, everyone gets into one of the space suits the foresighted Dr. J so thoughtfully provided and you keep your helmet in hand until they leave our local space. If the fight we're all expecting breaks out, you put that helmet on and it doesn't come off until either Zechs or Heero gives an all clear. This colony is decrepit as it is. If it gets hit in a battle, we could be without life support in a hurry."

She looked over at the arguing group that had managed to pull Trowa into the discussion now. Only Heero was ignoring them, intent on his computer as usual. Then his head turned slightly and Noin saw something she'd never seen before. There was a very sly smile on Heero Yuy's face. It was gone before she could be sure she'd seen it.

"That is a very sensible precaution." Relena agreed. She'd been watching the screen Noin realized and hadn't seen Heero. Darn, she'd wanted to ask her for conformation of what she'd thought she'd seen. Dorothy and Mariemaia had also been looking in the wrong direction.

"Maxwell, will you be reasonable?!" Zechs shouted in exasperation, making Noin grin. "They have to be on wires! The control is too fine!"

"Have you actually watched this fight, Zechs?" Duo was standing in her husband's personal space, glaring up at him. "Have you paid any attention to how those things moved? They'd have tied themselves in knots if they were on wires!"

"Explain the control, Maxwell," Wu Fei snapped. "Explain that and I will listen to you."

"We don't know enough about their tech yet, Chang," Trowa reminded him. "Just because Duo can't explain it using our tech doesn't mean there isn't an explanation based in theirs."

"True," Quatre allowed. "But Trowa, the control is awfully good. The instructions those units were getting were exceptionally precise. Transmitted data would just take too long for the observed reaction times."

"Not if it came from the pilot's mind," Heero was suddenly standing beside the table, several pages of printout in hand. "You should really get your data before starting these arguments. It seems Captain La Flaga is quite well known as being very 'gifted'. His sense of spatial orientation is considered amazing and he can track quite an array of things around him at the same time. Those 'beam emitters' aren't on wires; they take their orders directly from his mind."

He dropped the printouts on the table and sauntered back to his computer. He left shocked silence in his wake. But the four girls were positioned to see the wide grin on his face. Heero Yuy, it seemed, had developed a sense of humor in the years he'd been away. They weren't sure if they should giggle, or faint.

* * *

"I really don't care if you're disappointed," Captain Terasawa snapped, her image on the comm screen flickering slightly. "I couldn't get Zala without having to take out La Flaga too. And if you think I'm stupid enough to kill the Hawk of Endymion _at_ Endymion, you got another think coming! I'm not going to set every legal fleet in space on my tail for your convenience! You have your distraction, I got what I wanted, and we're even. Leave it at that."

Hannam had no grounds to argue with her and he knew it. She'd done an outstanding job, grabbing public attention and locking it on the Moon for hours now and it would stay there for many more hours to come. The list of those confirmed dead was already dozens long and included some major names from all sides. Unfortunately, the biggest had escaped. He'd really hoped the woman would have taken both Zala and La Flaga. It was regrettable to find that she still had enough sanity left to know how big a mistake that would have been.

"Very well," he said calmly. "You have managed to get both the Alliance and the Aube fleets recalled from L-4 to the Moon as well as the ZAFT contingent. Including both the _Izumo_ battleships. You have indeed delivered the distraction you promised."

Terasawa leaned forward, a dark, almost foreboding look on her handsome face. "You tell the others they better make that ambush work. Yamato isn't the kind you get two chances at. Once his allies know someone's after him, they'll start hunting you. And their track record is perfect so far. If you slip badly enough to call the _Archangel_ back into space, I'm going to find a nice deep hole to crawl into and you won't see me again for a very long time, you understand? I'm crazy, not nuts. I won't help you against Terminal, Aube, _and_ the PLANTs."

Hannam jerked up and glared at her. The pirate stared flatly back. Then she shook her head.

"So, you do think you can take them on. You're a fool. Fine, you're a fool on his own then. Don't call me again. I won't answer."

He stared in shock at the suddenly blank screen. Just how much had that bitch really understood all along? 'Crazy, not nuts' she'd said. Did that mean most of her simple-minded bloodlust had been an _act_? Damn it! And she'd gotten away with more in supplies than any of the others too!

* * *

Kira shook his head slowly as he scanned the newest lists of the verified dead from the attack at Endymion Crater. "An awful lot of these people were just news staffers doing their jobs. I can see the military and political figures who attended as targets but I feel sorry for the innocents."

"You've never had them in your face for a week," Dearka said drily. "You'd rethink your definition of 'innocent' real quick there if you did."

The brunet looked up wearily. "Excuse me, but _who_ am I planning to marry some day?"

"Walked right into that one didn't you?" Yzak asked with no sympathy as the blond winced.

Icy blue eyes picked out the names that were going to be ammunition in the political fallout of this disaster. "Admiral Leon Ziegler, ours. Fleet Admiral Kim Moon, theirs. Councilor Ari Har of Marius City, ours. First Lord for Space, Roland Whyte, Eurasia. Defense Minister Anton Gomez, theirs. Heron Lyle Sahaku, Aube. There are at least fifteen more that will be significant in one way or another here too."

He tossed the list on the table in frustration. "At least Vice-President June Harper got away with nothing more than a broken arm! I can only imagine what the headlines would have been if that lady had been killed!"

"She is popular in North America," Kira agreed quietly. "I've met her. She came to one of the early peace meetings. She's very reasonable. She would have been a real loss. I'm sorry about Heron Sahaku too. He was one of the few completely sane members of that rather extensive family. One of their few pragmatists too. Lady Mina will miss his support."

"Yeah, well, it's the names that aren't there that relieve me," Dearka admitted.

"Me too," Kira agreed, grateful beyond measure not to have found Athrun, Mu, Murrue, Mir, or Andy Waltfeld's names on that sad roll. The only other person he personally knew who was there, ZAFT Commander Lance Thoms, had gotten off with a badly broken leg and several cracked ribs. Not much damage really for someone who'd had the reviewing stand smashed down on him by the pirate's beam saber. He'd just been lucky his suit hadn't been torn by the wreckage around him.

A knock on the cabin door distracted them all. The _Irwin_ was a _Nazca_ and they'd been given one of the two VIP suites aboard. It gave them this small private lounge to retreat to when the crew's polite curiosity got to be too much. It was generally respected too. Not many would bother them here. Since he was closest, Yzak answered the door himself. They were all surprised to see Captain Noda standing there; all the more so when they realized he was alone and making some effort not to be seen. Yzak stepped back and let the man in.

"Thank you Commander," The Captain nodded. "I wouldn't bother you but I thought you should know, Lunar Command has recalled the Fleet elements from L-4. They just passed us."

For a change, it was Dearka who understood what the man was implying first. "You have some reason to be concerned about being met by unfriendly people, Captain?"

"A reason, no. A well honed instinct that's brought me through two wars, oh yes," Noda replied tightly.

Yzak began to nod slowly. "Right. All attention is pulled one way, the real attack comes from another. Classic."

Kira snorted. "Yeah, _you_ tried it on me and _Archangel_ a time or two, remember?"

"Never worked as well for us as it did for you that time Commander La Flaga attacked the _Vesalius_ with his Moebius Zero using that Lohengrin shot for cover!" Yzak growled.

"Considering how green I was then, that success was a Godsend," Kira said fervently. "You'd have chewed me apart if I'd had to stand against you very much longer. I just didn't know enough then. I barely knew enough to make the Strike's systems work at that point! I sure didn't know how to make them work well!"

"Coulda fooled me!" Dearka gave a bark of rueful laughter. "We all thought you were some serious, hot-shot Natural pilot. Athrun, and now I can understand why, wasn't telling us a thing that he knew about you then. You have one hell of an innate gift for flying mobile suits, you know that right?"

"If we could get back to the point, the Captain suspects someone may be set to try that classic ambush on us." Commander Joule noted coldly. "We should consider how we want to deal with that possibility, eh?"

Kira looked up at Captain Noda. "Have you tried sounding out Admiral Quiles yet?"

"I dropped a few hints as the squadrons passed us, theirs to starboard, ours to port, and the Aube trailing both at six o'clock low. He understood me, he made that clear. But he didn't seem to feel there is a serious risk. Either that or his hands are so tied by having that idiot aboard that he simply can't take reasonable military precautions. Having watched the man's eyes while we were talking, I'm inclined to think the later." Like just about everyone else in the PLANTs, Captain Noda was not a fan of the Foreign Minister.

All three of the pilots could only shake their heads. They understood the situation only too well. The last four days of travel from the PLANTs out to these colonies had over-exposed them to the self-important little man hiding behind the title of the Foreign Minister's office. Yzak and Dearka came from political families; Kira had been given a crash course in the subject between the wars. It was crystal clear to each of them that the man was in that job, not for his own abilities, but as someone's cats paw. Finding out who pulled his strings would surely be very enlightening.

That was something to worry about later. Right now, his interference meant the Alliance ships were not going to be able to go into the colony cluster ready to jump to battle stations. They were going to be slow getting their mobile suits off their decks with nothing prepped in advance. Depending on how serious this suspected attack turned out to be, that would be either a nuisance or a deadly delay.

"We have to be off the ship before we approach Mendel," Kira said bluntly. "We can't tie up the catapult launching the Gundams. We have to be out and ready before that."

"Why Mendel?" Dearka asked.

Kira turned grim eyes up at the three in the room. "Because everything bad in the L-4 cluster happens there. More importantly, only Mendel has a cleared traffic lane. Which means the space immediately outside the lane is a death trap dense with trash lethal to a ship or mobile suit since that's where they pushed the junk that used to be _in_ the lane. Once a ship enters the lane, it has to either turn around or go on through. Going through the side wall isn't possible. Not even a positron cannon will clear a path large enough for a capital ship to escape sideways. It's the only really good attack site in the whole of the colonial space. And you know that fool is going to insist on doing a fly past using that so-convenient lane. If he can't even prep his ships for a battle he knows is coming, the Admiral isn't going to be able to refuse to take the lane either. We'll all just trundle on into the trap like good little targets."

"Well, this ship doesn't have to be that stupid!" Captain Noda snapped.

"Care to explain to the world how we weren't with the people we were supposed to be escorting when they were ambushed?" Yzak asked wearily. "It won't matter one iota that we were simply being smart to their being stupid. It will look, at best, like we left them to die. At worst, and you know a lot of Naturals will spin it that way, it will seem as though we were in league with the attackers. The peace process can't afford either impression. We're stuck. We're going to have to fly into this with our eyes open and our weapons charged. That's the best we can do. Any intelligent action on our part will be seen as treachery."

Captain Noda stared at them, furious and oddly helpless. They could only stare back with very similar expressions. The political reality of the situation trumped the military one. It gave one a very hollow feeling to realize they were expendable when the prize was a lasting peace. The Captain didn't stay. He had a ship to prepare for a pitched battle that officially wouldn't happen.

Yzak closed the door behind him. "Have you got any brilliant ideas on how we should fight this one Yamato?"

"I have ideas," Kira said calmly. "I don't know how brilliant they are though."

"Well, I'm listening. You're the one who's used to fighting on the short end of the odds."

"Fine. You and Dearka are used to working together. I haven't had a chance to practice with him yet. So for this fight, he's back to being your Wing. Our objectives are very simple, don't get killed, save all the ships we can, destroy every enemy we can. There isn't any point in elaborate plans for something like this."

Kira grabbed some of the papers and laid them out on the table. "This is our flotilla. If they don't come at us from both ends, they're complete idiots. Knowing that coward, Pearson is going to demand the Alliance ships bunch up around him, rendering most of their firepower useless and making them one, big, fat, target. I trust Captain Noda to keep us out of that mess. We're going to end up on one flank or the other. I suspect which one will be immaterial. You and Dearka take bow defense, I'll take the stern and Lieutenant Keene and his two partners with their GOUF Ignited suits can take center. After that, we are probably going to be down to watching how the battle develops."

Yzak studied the layout and nodded heavily. "Yeah, it's probably the best we're going to be able to do until we find out what we're up against."

"You know, there just might not be anyone there," Dearka pointed out chipperly.

"I will pray you're right," Kira told him. "And we're all going down to the hanger right now and start prepping our Gundams just in case you're wrong."

"Never hurts to be practical," The blond agreed, holding the door open for the two who outranked him.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 16 Ambush

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

It had been a tense day. None of the pilots had eaten much and they drank only enough to keep thirst at bay. They had gone quiet, and very still. Even Duo wasn't talking the walls down like normal. All five of them spent the morning making sure their machines were completely combat-ready.

About noon the security scan had begun to pick up large drifting masses it couldn't identify. They settled in among the other large debris around both Curie and Goddard colonies. The best picture the cameras could give them bore an uncomfortably marked resemblance to the first shots the Mir girl had gotten of Terasawa's ships coming in to attack Endymion.

"How far out is the Foreign Minister's group," Heero asked.

Zechs jumped, snapping around, a knife jumping into his hand in an automatic reflex born of the tensions of the moment.

"Damn it Yuy! Don't sneak up on me like that!" The former Oz Special snarled as he caught himself before he did anything he'd regret forever with that blade.

Flat Prussian blue eyes stared hard at the knife, then the head gave a tiny nod of apology. It was the best he was going to get from the man right now. Yuy was in full 'mission mode' and his emotional responses would remain deeply suppressed until he came out of it.

Sometime during the night he'd made the decision he'd been avoiding ever since J had told them the Gundams had been restored. Heero would return to the battlefield. But he would only do it as the Perfect Soldier. He's bluntly told them all he didn't think his sanity could withstand doing it without that emotionless shield to stand behind. Quite frankly, neither did Zechs. At least, not yet.

He wasn't alone in that decision. Earlier that morning the Lightening Count had watched each of the pilots reach back for the emotional safety of those old wartime personas. It was Shinigami who had been doing final prep on Deathscythe's energy blade, not Duo Maxwell. The Silencer worked wordlessly loading the ammunition reserves on Heavyarms, Trowa Barton set in abeyance somewhere. Gentle Quatre Winner had been put aside for the Desert Prince who was fine tuning Sandrock's operating system. The Dragon was carefully capping the napalm tanks on his Altron. Preventer Chang Wu Fei no longer existed and wouldn't again until sometime after the battle was over. And the Perfect Soldier, back in black spandex shorts and a green tank top, had been grimly and methodically tightening the connectors on the controller of each and every thruster and vernier of his Wing Zero.

"The Foreign Minister?" Yuy repeated his earlier question.

"He's about thirty minutes out." Dorothy replied from her seat at the board.

"Then we will be going out now."

"Heero," Zechs said quietly. "Take care please. Don't let yourself or the others forget that this is not our place or war. Remember that we've all agreed that we would only intervene if the colony itself was threatened."

He nodded sharply, unphased by the reminder. "We will. Don't you forget to get your helmets on before the shooting actually starts either."

Colonel Merquise smiled grimly at Captain Yuy. "No, we will go to sealed suits and helmets as soon as the attack begins."

"Take care of her Zechs." Heero whispered, then he turned and was gone.

"I will." He softly promised the empty air where the younger man had been moments before. "I'll take care of all of them Yuy, but her in particular. She is _my_ sister after all."

He gave himself a small shake and slipped the knife back up his sleeve where it belonged. It really was silly to carry it today. It was going to be inaccessible quite soon, sealed away under his space suit. Still, some habits were very hard to break. He wondered how many similar blades the five pilots were wearing under their suits. Yuy'd had a fairly large one riding between his shoulder blades earlier. Zechs doubted he'd taken it off when he'd put that black and metallic cobalt suit on.

The restless pilot of the unavailable Epyon turned back to the boards to watch a battle he was not going to be able to participate in. Dorothy had the two main screens active now. One was split, showing those odd blobs they were sure were the enemy at both their locations. The other showed them the incoming ships of the Foreign Minister's party. The Alliance picket had joined them now as had the small ZAFT patrol ship.

"It isn't easy to see," Dorothy remarked quietly, "but the enemy is starting to 'drift' toward us. Heero did a bit of programming for me last night. Now, there are no colony security cameras except the ones I'm controlling from this console that can turn far enough to see any of the sections the boys will be crossing. And what those can see won't be recorded anywhere but here either."

"I think the rest of it should be," Mariemaia said firmly. "Treachery is happening right in front of us. Someone beyond those of us here should be able to learn about it too. It's their world after all. This shouldn't go unpunished."

"Treachery goes unpunished all the time." Noin pointed out unhappily. "Its one of the realities of life."

"It's a bad reality," the girl growled.

Suddenly Zechs grinned, a very nasty grin. "You're right Mariemaia! Everyone should know about this. Dorothy, can you access those cascade programs Yuy created to prevent cross links between the security cameras and the emergency network feeds?"

"Zechs!" Noin jerked to her feet. "Are you _crazy_? Do you want us to be found?"

"Not at all," he replied, still smiling evilly. "Heero researched those episodes like he does everything he touches. He gave me his reports after he activated the cascade programs. There have been numerous incidents, some lasting up to an hour, that were occurring long before we arrived. This battle isn't likely to last long enough for a transmission to seem suspiciously extensive. Dorothy, can you get us in?"

"Of course," she said, an equally vicious smile growing on her face. "Yuy left an obvious backdoor into the programs in case Duo needed to get in there quickly to make adjustments. Let me look this over for a few minutes and I'll be able to tell you if I can do it or not. Heero wasn't out to be secretive here, just efficient. I should be able to work with it."

Relena silently slipped into the seat beside Dorothy and activated the third of the central screens. She found the cameras that were tracking the Gundams and put that up on the screen. Deathscythe was leading and Wing Zero was tail guard. They moved from covered spot to covered spot, not staying on the exposed surface of the colony one second longer than they had to. For all their caution, they were covering the ground quickly. They were already almost a quarter of the way around the colony.

Mariemaia impatiently reached over and tweaked the controls that managed the images of the incoming visitors. The picture instantly sharpened, the details of individual ships abruptly becoming visible. So did a number of small points of reflected light on either side of the flotilla.

"Oh, they have at least a few mobile suits flying escort!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, that will be Commanders Joule and Yamato by the ZAFT ships. I've no idea who got unlucky enough to be flying for the Alliance." Noin said as she reached over Mariemaia's head and sharpened the picture still more. "Uhm, still too far out to get a good look at their suits though."

She turned to the other screen and tightened that image up as well. But the enemy ships were still too far back to register as more than nearly circular blobs. Still they were close enough to count now and she had nine following the flotilla and twelve ready to block ahead. The attacker's ships were definitely not as large as that _Agamemnon_ of the Alliance or the ZAFT _Nazca_. Even the _Drake_s were larger. They were going to try to make up in sheer number of mobile suits what they lacked in ship-based firepower.

If some of what they'd pulled out of the mainframe was accurate, it wasn't such a bad decision. The _Drake_'s in particular seemed to be very vulnerable to mobile suit attack. Remove them and suddenly you had just the two battleships and a pair of picket boats left. The odds shifted drastically at that point.

"Wind! I'm in!" Dorothy cried. "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you adjust the programs to _cause_ a cross link, one that can be held open until we decide to close it?" Zechs asked, leaning over her shoulder to stare at the data on her screen.

"Oh yes, easily. Yuy set this up to go both ways. That boy never forgets to be prepared to sabotage whatever he's working on."

"Old habits die hard." Merquise muttered, knowing he had more than a few of his own like that.

"Yes but this time it will be very useful." Catalonia agreed with savage cheer. "Now, what do you specifically want me to do?"

"All right, I want you to set this up to start when I give the order but, I want it to go out on a three minute delay. Can you manage that?"

"Of course. But why would we want to?"

He sighed. "Dorothy, can you imagine the issues we'd have if this fed live and Heero had to step out there with Wing Zero to prevent the destruction of the colony? Especially if he actually _fired_ that twin buster rifle of his?"

"Three minute delay for editing purposes coming up." Dorothy agreed, eyes a little wild. But then, she'd been there when Heero had destroyed the last falling segment of the _Libra_ and saved the world from the equivalent nuclear winter with one insane shot. She knew first hand what both pilot and weapon were capable of.

"Our team is at the scan horizon for the visitor's ship-based equipment." Relena announced suddenly. "They report they will be shutting off all comm equipment now and everything else not essential to life support or movement. They expect to be in their final observation locations in five minutes."

"Send them 'understood' and close our line. It endangers them from this point on to leave it open. We won't reopen it until the battle is over or they have to break their cover." Zechs ordered.

"Done," she said moments later.

"I have the feed ready whenever you give the order. Do you think three minutes is long enough or should I set it to five?"

"You're right, five might be better if we have to erase the evidence of all of them from the images."

"Then we are ready to go any time from . . . . . . . now!"

And now it was down to waiting. He hated waiting. Especially when he was doing it from a position of defenselessness. They were going to live or die largely on the skills and courage of alien pilots. For if these ships and mobile suits about to be ambushed here didn't fight like devils, and the enemy was who he expected it to be, then the destruction of the colony was very likely.

Time dragged by at the pace of a glacier moving on flat land. He did remember to order them all to seal their suits and saw to it that their helmets were on correctly and securely. That occupied him usefully for, oh, seven minutes. Then time went back to stop again.

"Zechs! The pirates have just accelerated!" Noin hissed. "They're coming in fast! Even if they wanted to, there's no time for that flotilla to turn around now!"

"Dorothy! Activate that feed! Make sure the pictures show the attack coming from both sides and that the ZAFT escort is trapped inside with the rest!" Zechs snapped into his mike.

"We're recording," she laughed. "Broadcasting to begin in four minutes fifty-seven seconds. Oh, I just so love upsetting sloppy planning!"

Zechs watched the defensive reactions. The ZAFT ships had clearly been expecting something like this. One mobile suit shot for the bow of the _Nazca_ and the other for the stern. The ship itself was launching more mobile suits within a minute of the alert. The three newcomers took up station amidships. They were joined by a fourth from the patrol boat, which was now tucked up fairly tightly to the battleship's keel. Both ships were slowly dropping toward the colony.

The Alliance ships on the other hand seemed to be caught completely flat footed. The ZAFT team was fully set up and had taken a station slightly below and ahead of them before they began to launch their first mobile suits besides the existing escort and pull in tightly around the _Agamemnon_ class. Zechs just shook his head. What was the commander there thinking? He was covering too many of his own lines of fire! Then he realized what was happening. That damned politician was in charge.

He watched with sick eyes. The Alliance ships were doomed in that formation. And with their loss, the ZAFT pair would become lunchmeat. Then the first of the pirates came into range of the ZAFT ship's guns. Suddenly there were only eleven attackers. Well, well, make that tough lunchmeat. But when they didn't fire again immediately, Zechs knew the power cycle needed for those guns was too long to allow them to save the situation. The first of the pirates was already beginning to back out of its mobile suit carrier.

"And we are broadcasting!" Dorothy gloated.

* * *

"Any bright ideas here Yamato?" Yzak asked as he surveyed the attacking force in some shock.

"We kill them," Kira replied, his voice dead. "We don't have a choice. There're too many of them for mercy today. And they won't give us any."

"No shit!" Dearka spit.

"Dearka," Kira spoke quickly. "Stay under the Colloid as long as you can. Move in behind Yzak right now and the two of you time your shots. Make it look as much as possible like only one weapon is firing. Lets keep the fact that we've got a third really powerful suit out here hidden as long as we can. Now, start killing things."

The closest of the enemy ships suddenly slowed to pull out of his mobile suit carrier. Kira checked his range and found he could hit it. He shot forward, his targeting system picking up each of the mobile suits in their racks. Two seconds later, he whipped Strike-Freedom upright and fired one round with everything he had, including all eight DRAGOONs and the chest cannon. The carrier emerged from the resulting explosions as shattered scraps. None of the mobile suits had survived. The ship itself had a slightly cooked look as well. Good, any damage there was gravy. He fell back to the _Irwin_, sourly aware that he wasn't going to get many of those opportunities again.

The Irwin's guns tore space over his head and a second attacker simply vanished. Then he spotted another pirate who'd come too far forward before moving to drop his carrier. This time though, he was dodging enemy fire all the way in. He had to use the bulk of the ship itself to cut off the attacks before he could get off his own shot. The results though were the same. And this time he was close enough to stay the extra moments to take a second, quite deliberately aimed shot with the rail guns at the ship's bridge.

As he raced back to his station at the stern, the pirate was falling off to its own starboard, curving toward the deadly trash zone that lined the shipping lane. For a second he thought it would hit the end of the colony, then he knew it was far enough out to clear. Abruptly, it was plowing into the trash. It was on fire almost instantly. Hull breaches appeared in several places. Then it must have run into one of the long filament ties with serious mass on one or both ends because the bridge was suddenly sliced off neatly. The ship exploded seconds later. One more down, only nine to go!

He dropped below the picket boat's hull to see how the Alliance was making out with the ones coming in on their side. It looked like they'd knocked one down but hadn't taken out any of the carriers. And now the enemy mobile suits were dragging those carriers out of the way, leaving them to eventually bounce off the side of the colony. At thirty suits per carrier that made it two hundred and forty enemy suits on that side. The Alliance looked like it had put up about sixty off the _Jan Smits_ and the _Drake_s. Well, they were trained soldiers; they should cut those numbers severely.

They were certainly trying to. Very heavy and unusually well aimed fire was ripping into the pirate ranks. Kira could see that the greater than normal accuracy was taking a noticeable toll. But the pirates were coming forward at full speed and the advantage of accuracy over distance was disappearing quickly.

"How's it look?" Dearka asked as Kira raced back to his station.

"Unattractive," he admitted. "There are still eight ships out there and it looks like they got all their suits launched. Alliance has about sixty to meet them. They're putting up a vicious defense but it isn't stopping them. That's going to be a very ugly fight."

"It isn't gonna be any bed of roses here either," Elsman growled. "They've got eight left here and they got that many ship's worth of suits launched."

"More shooting, less talk," Yzak snapped, suiting action to words as he took out a mobile suit and lined up on another. "They're going to be in saber range too soon!"

Behind Kira Yamato's eyes, a lavender seed dropped and shattered. An eerily familiar calm settled over him. His awareness expanded, taking in the entire battlefield in front of him. Suddenly, he was setting up targeting on the most dangerous of his enemies, not necessarily the closest. Seconds later, he gave another demonstration of just how much firepower his suit really had. And then the DRAGOON units dropped off the wings once more. The damages rose exponentially.

It did not stop them. And there were too many of them. Even Kira could only kill so many so fast. Then the swiftest of them had managed to close the range and it was a saber battle.

He activated the left arm shield, drew a saber in his right hand and attacked. They were slow and clumsy next to him. But they had numbers on their side and they could and did force him back toward the _Irwin_. He called the DRAGOONs in for some very close order killing and the space around him opened up again.

He took the brief second the room afforded him to look around. There were only two GOUF Ignited suits left. Yzak was a silvery-gray streak of death out by the bow, leaving multiple explosions in his wake, some of which were undoubtedly the work of the still invisible Dearka. He was just in time to see Joule snap his guns together and fire the combined rifle right through the bridge of a pirate that had made the fatal error of giving him a clean shot. The disintegrating ship staggered toward the outer wall of the shipping lane and complete destruction. Yzak unsnapped the guns and killed two separate mobile suits who thought they were going to take advantage of his 'distraction'. Kira snorted, Yzak didn't _get_ distracted on the battlefield any more. Confident Joule and Elsman had their end under control; he turned back to his own zone of responsibility.

The ship's own point defense was chewing some holes in the dense ranks of the enemy as well. Over all, the result was still a standoff. Kira shook his head as he dived for the closest mobile suit, a Strike-Dagger with a lurid red skull painted on both shoulders. This situation was unstable as all hell. Something was going to break, it had to. One efficient slice bisected the Dagger, and he was already hunting a new target. One wasn't hard to find. He would keep fighting until that break happened.

An eager enemy was crowding in too close. The _Irwin_ fired again. This time, the shot and resulting explosion destroyed two of the much smaller, too aggressive attackers. But the five remaining ships nevertheless continued to push in, shouldering aside the still-burning wreckage that the blast hadn't thrown clear.

Kira stared at them for a long second as the mobile suits suddenly dropped back a bit. This was wrong! They were almost close enough for point defense weaponry to reach them. And that was a stupid thing to do. Then one of them fell back slightly and dropped toward the colony. Instinct screamed a warning at him and he followed it. An instant later the universe erupted in beam weapons, more than one cutting through the space he'd just been occupying.

It was the bulk of the _Irwin_ that saved them. The mass of the battleship had absorbed not only its own share of the beam attack but an additional savage physical pounding as all five Alliance ships exploded into shrapnel. The lightly armored _Drake_s, vulnerable to the attack of a single mobile suit let alone a mass firing of ship-based weapons, went first and the wreckage from them tore the heavily damaged _Jan Smits_ apart. The little picket ship simply vanished into the fireball somewhere.

He was never sure but it was probably a chunk of debris that shattered the ZAFT patrol boat. Its defensive placement directly under the _Irwin_'s keel, that has saved the small ship until this point, now proved disastrous for the larger defender. The patrol boat's engines exploded together. And the _Irwin_, already brutally beaten, simply broke apart into at least nine pieces. One of those pieces hit Strike-Freedom in a glancing blow before he could get completely out of the way and sent Kira wheeling across the sky, wildly out of control.

As he fought for control of his suit, Kira realized the enemy ships were also gone. There was wreckage everywhere and he was in deadly danger of hitting something more than large enough to kill him. The spinning began to slow as he fought the controls, and he discovered that at least one of the enemy had survived, although from the way it seemed to be drifting, the bridge crew was in bad shape.

"KIRA!" Dearka screamed. "Damn it! Where the hell are you? Yzak's hurt!"

"How badly?" Kira asked, as he finally managed to get the Strike-Freedom to completely stop spinning end over end. A fast look around showed him he wasn't far from them. The Blitz-Raider had dropped its invisibility and was holding a powered down Command Duel in one hand and the joined beam rifles in the other.

"I don't know. I'm getting life signs and basic life support is still on but that's it."

"Head for the colony surface and see if you can find a place to duck out of sight." Kira ordered. "I'll cover your retreat."

"Is there anyone else left?"

"I don't know. I doubt it though. And we won't be if we can't get out of sight before what's left of those guys shakes the spots out of their eyes." He recalled his DRAGOONs, and was both pleased and rather surprised when all eight returned to their places on the wing mounts.

Dearka headed down. They were lucky. The blasts had driven them fairly close already. They only had two or three kilometers to go to reach the very irregular surface of the half-dead colony. As they went, they both checked around themselves, trying to see what was left of both friend and foe.

They picked up no signals from any friends. Not even from any of the Alliance mobile suits. In a way, that wasn't surprising. The blast front when those ships exploded had to have been incredible. Mobile suits weren't built to withstand forces like that. If the _Irwin_ hadn't been there to shelter them, they wouldn't have made it either.

They did discover there were two surviving pirates though. And they picked up signals from a dozen or more unfriendly mobile suits. So it was imperative that they find cover quickly.

It was Kira who spotted a massive, covered, cargo lift that seemed to be permanently stuck in the up position and hustled Dearka and the still powered down Command Duel into it. He realized as they settled the mobile suit onto the floor that both Yzak's beam rifles were gone and one of his sabers was broken. That wasn't going to make the man happy. Well, Dearka could tell him, he'd been his friend for years, and he'd take it better from him. Kira left the experienced blond to run his diagnostic on Joule while he addressed their hiding spot. This site was good but not perfect. Still, the means to improve it was lying around on the floor.

There already was a good, solid shoulder high divider set about three quarters of the way back and running most of the way across the space. You could get a mobile suit through the gap that was left if you had to, even one the size and breadth of Strike-Freedom, but that was not necessarily a bad thing. It gave them a back door. It also made a sturdy support for the Command Duel now resting against it. The Blitz-Raider was kneeling beside the damaged suit, the private line already connecting the units as Dearka began to get accurate assessments of the extent of Yzak's injuries.

Kira picked two pieces of long scrap up off the floor and set them together like an inverted tent, jamming the ragged ends into the first convenient holes in the side walls he found. They stood close to shoulder high on Strike-Freedom and completely hid the Command Duel and Blitz-Raider from sight even though they went barely half way across the space. Another piece, one with several holes in it, was leaned part way across the front and braced with a couple of big blocky chunks he grabbed from just outside. They had fresh, sharp edges; they likely came from one of the just shattered ships.

Now there was no straight line of sight into the elevator at all. And there was enough metal in the way to mess up all but the very best of the military sensor suites. Best of all, there were enough holes in this thing to let him look out just about anywhere. Which he did, very carefully and thoroughly, before he moved back to join Dearka.

"How is he?"

"Well, the onboard diagnostics say he's hit his head pretty hard and he may have a broken collar bone too. Normally, it wouldn't be anything serious. Stuck out here in a powered down mobile suit on the other hand, it could end up very serious."

"Stop talking about me like I'm dead." Yzak Joule's voice tried to snarl and failed miserably.

"We aren't, we're talking about you like you're injured," Kira told him calmly. "Please don't turn anything back on by the way. We're hiding."

That was met with several minutes of silence, then Yzak asked, "How bad is it?"

"The _Irwin_ and the patrol boat are gone. The _Jan Smits_ and escorts are also gone. There seems to be two of the enemy ships left, condition unknown, and an unknown number of their mobile suits. I've counted a dozen that were visible at any one time but I can't be sure that's all there are." Kira reported. "Still, it was a very Pyrrhic victory for them."

"On the positive side, my mobile suit seems to be undamaged as is Dearka's. Yours doesn't seem to be seriously damaged either. It's more the pilot being, ah, 'dented' than the suit from the looks of it."

"So the positive information is that we're hiding on the _outside_ surface of a mostly dead colony with no backup, no communications, and no hope of getting to either in the near future, right?" Joule asked sarcastically.

"Yes, that about sums it up," Kira agreed calmly.

"Yamato, if this is positive, I absolutely never want a negative report from you, do you understand me?"

"Whatever you want Yzak," Kira agreed again.

Dearka snickered.

"Shut up Elsman, it isn't funny!"

In the poor light near the floor and in among the trash, none of them noticed the thin line that had very unobtrusively attached itself to the Command Duel. If they had, they would have discovered it ran under the heavy divider at the Duel's back. Had they looked over that divider, they would have recognized one of the two alien mobile suits crouched close to the floor on the other side.

* * *

"That Yzak guy's a grouch," Duo snorted.

"He's injured," Quatre pointed out. "How cooperative is Heero when he's hurt?"

"Well, ya got a point there," Maxwell conceded. "I kinda like this Yamato's sense of humor though. And that's one seriously kick-ass mobile suit he's got there."

"He handles it well too."

"Oh, yeah, he does that," Duo agreed slowly. "I hope someone inside is recording some of this because I'd really, really like to have a chance to go over some of his flying. I mean, he was better than good from the word go but there was that point in there just as they started to close in when he, I don't know, flipped a switch maybe? Anyhow, he was suddenly three levels better than he'd just been. It was kinda scary to watch him."

"Oh, so you saw that too. Good, I was beginning to think I'd imagined it."

"Not hardly," Duo disagreed quietly. "This Yzak's a damn good pilot himself but there's something very different about Yamato. He can step beyond human."

"Perhaps it has something to do with his being one of these Coordinators?" Quatre suggested.

"I don't know. I thought these other two were too. Unless he's something special in Coordinators? That might account for it."

"02, 04, can you secure the survivors if necessary?" Yuy asked flatly.

"Negative, 01," Duo replied. "We could manage the damaged unit and the other dark one but not the white and gray."

"01, what is the situation at this time?" Quatre demanded.

"The enemy now consists of two ships, both showing some signs of battle damage, degree of severity unknown, and approximately eighteen mobile suits of four different designs. Five of those are confirmed as damaged, two appear to be serious. 03 is recording their arguments and trying to translate as quickly as he can but they appear to speak in a heavy regional accent and make extensive use of vocabulary we have not covered yet. 03 suspects most of it is non-vital profanities."

"Well, yeah, of course it is! You ever known a sailor who didn't swear?" Duo asked.

"No," Yuy replied shortly.

"People," Trowa suddenly cut in, "we may have a problem. If I'm understanding this correctly, they're working on arguing themselves into destroying the colony! They seem to feel whatever is being found here will only benefit the Coordinators. They are feeling betrayed by whoever hired them as well. And there is a mobile suit they wanted to capture that they did not obtain, Commander Yamato's I believe."

"Heh, yeah, like they're good enough to get that suit from that guy!" Duo snorted. "Sent four hundred and twenty mobile suits and twelve ships against him, two other superior suits, four good grunt suits, and a single capital ship. He came out of it intact. The other two superior suits came through and they lost eleven ships and four hundred and eleven mobile suits. They didn't bring enough guns to the party."

"No, not quite," Quatre agreed slowly. "But they came very close."

"Do we destroy them then?" Wu Fei asked. "We are permitted to act if the colony is threatened."

"Not yet," Quatre replied crisply. "We must wait until it is certain that Commander Yamato and his friends are unable to destroy the enemy by themselves. We do not want them to find us either, remember?"

"Waiting," Yuy agreed curtly.

* * *

From the moment the attackers began their move, had been clear to Zechs Merquise who was going to win the battle. The numbers were simply too overwhelming. The Foreign Minister's flotilla was doomed. And the formation the Earth Alliance portion of it drew into only made the situation worse for them.

Then the ZAFT battleship had began to alter the landscape of war. The first shot eliminated not only one of the attacking ships but its entire contingent of mobile suits as well. The Alliance battleship followed that with a very good shot of its own. It killed the enemy ship but it had already dropped its suits and most survived. Still, the unfortunately long recharge cycle of the beam guns would plainly limit their effectiveness overall.

Then what would prove to be the _really_ effective element stepped forward. One of the ZAFT mobile suits darted forward at a startling speed. It snapped up into firing position and fired almost simultaneously. Zechs jaw dropped at the firepower that one suit released. It was spread across several weapons, but even so, it was the most powerful individual mobile suit he'd ever seen other than Wing Zero! There was nothing left of the pirate's mobile suit carrier or its deadly cargo and the ship itself had taken some damage. The ZAFT suit retreated to its defensive position as swiftly as it had come forward.

Although it took them far too much time to get set up, the Alliance mobile suits proved to be stubborn, skilled fighters when they finally got the chance to engage the enemy. None of their units were anywhere as good as the two spectacular suits ZAFT had. Nor were any of their pilots showing anything like the brilliance and expertise of the ZAFT pair. But they were killing their targets far, far faster than those targets were killing them. And they stood steadily in the face of those terrible odds. One could ask no more than that of line soldiers.

Had it remained a mobile suit battle, the Lightening Count was fairly sure the battle would have eventually gone to the defenders. The Alliance soldiers were destroying the pirates at a rate faster than the pirates were going to be able to get rid of them. The ZAFT suits simply were too much better than their attackers. Even their four more standard models performed levels above the pirates. The special pair though, they were capable of killing ships, and did.

"Wind, I think there's another mobile suit out there on ZAFT's side." Noin said quietly as she and Dorothy hurriedly picked which camera views to shift among. "I've caught at least two beams coming out of nowhere now to kill enemy suits. They've got someone out there with Deathscythe's abilities or something very similar, I'm sure of it. He's acting as backup and guard for the silver and gray suit."

"Colonel Zechs!" Mariemaia called. "Relena wants you to come see this! We don't like how the pirates are moving their ships!"

"I'll watch your evidence later." He promised Noin who nodded understandingly.

He hurried over to his sister and the child, both of whom were keeping track of the battle in real time. "What is it?"

"Milliardo, why would such small ships want to crowd so close to such large and dangerous enemies?" Relena asked, forgetting in her anxious excitement that he'd asked her not to call him that.

His eyes widened as he suddenly saw what the fools were planning. "Those idiots! They're going to get themselves killed too!"

On either side of the attack, one ship Captain suddenly seemed to realize just what kind of suicidal stupidity he was about to commit. One abruptly rose off the plane the others were on, the other dropped below it. The powerful ZAFT mobile suit followed the diving ship, apparently intent on attacking it. The silver-gray one was already racing down after a pair of mobile suits.

Zechs shook his head slowly in helpless denial. They couldn't be that stupid, could they? The screen flared brilliantly with the dazzling light of beam weapons and weapons strikes. Yes, they were that stupid! His hand shot forward and he turned the light intensity of the screen almost to off.

It lit up like a good reading lamp anyway, although there were several flickers in it. Within seconds there was a new spike of light. A third followed less than a half minute later. Only when the screen faded to darkness and stayed that way for a full minute did he reset it to the standard brightness.

The space that had just been occupied by a desperate battle was almost empty. There were large and small chunks that had recently been spaceships moving in many directions, most at high rates of speed. A number of those were going to hit the colony. He could only pray it was still strong enough to withstand them.

The decking under his feet suddenly began to vibrate. The first of the major debris was already here. Zechs scanned the screen for survivors. He picked up a pair of fairly battered pirates quickly and identified them as the pair who'd had the brains to get off the plane of fire at the last second. The Alliance and ZAFT warships were just gone. So were all the rest of the pirates and the vast majority of the mobile suits.

But he did see the spectacularly powered ZAFT white and gray suit heading for the colony surface. A mottled black unit he'd not seen before was ahead of him, towing the silver-gray suit. So Noin had been right! There was a third ZAFT special suit!

"Milliardo!" Relena was clinging to the console with one hand and Mariemaia with the other. "What is happening?"

"Those idiots blew themselves and the trapped fleet up! The colony is being battered with broken pieces of ships and mobile suits. Don't worry. If nothing breaks now, it isn't going to. The self-sealing function is one someone restored in the last year or so. Its one of the very few fully serviceable things on this whole damned piece of scrap. And it will be all over in just a few minutes."

"Heero! Heero and the others!"

"They're all smart enough to dodge. And are more than able to." He reassured her, hoping he was right about that.

There were several sharp jars in the vibration, indications of significant hits. He didn't mention to his sister that there was now a considerable danger that the colony's orbit had been disrupted. He was going to have to check that quietly as soon as he got the chance to do it without witnesses. He didn't need panic.

The bangs stopped after about five minutes. Oh, there would probably be a late one or two but the majority had come, and gone. He reached over and activated a scan that would tell them if the colony had been breached, any where at all and by even so much as a pinhole. That would take a while to run; it was time to check on the Gundams.

Wing Zero was crouched in a broken doorway, the wings dragging back like the wreckage around it. If Zechs hadn't known what he was looking at, he'd never have seen the mobile suit in among the trash. He found Heavyarms and Altron standing together in another, much sturdier and deeply recessed doorway. But it was when he located the pickup that was focused on Deathscythe and Sandrock that he nearly burst out laughing. They were both hunkered down as far as they could get and were right up against a heavy looking metallic wall. Looking over that wall, straight at the camera, was the head, shoulders, and gray wing tops of the fantastic ZAFT mobile suit! Then it turned away and a few minutes later Duo and Quatre straightened their suits up a bit.

He gave the situation a quick thought and made a decision. "Dorothy, what are we broadcasting right now?"

"Uhm, the ZAFT mobile suits heading for the colony, why?"

"Have you allowed footage of the two pirates and their mobile suits to go out?"

"Yes."

"Then jiggle the picture for a few seconds, freeze it for five seconds and cut the cross link." He ordered. "We want those three rescued. We will leave their friends with an undecided situation as incentive to move quickly."

"Jiggling images now," Catalonia replied calmly. "And freeze! One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Cut! We are out of the war broadcasting business."

"Good! Now fix Yuy's program so he won't know you were ever in it! I don't want to have to deal with his throwing a tantrum because I let someone play else with his toys."

"I don't want to find out how he defines 'tantrum'." Dorothy admitted as she began to carefully back out of the cascade programs.

Given that Yuy was operating in Perfect Soldier mode right now, Zechs wasn't all that anxious to see it either but he wasn't going to admit that. So he made no comment on her remark and let the subject die. Instead, he plugged into the now reopened channel that would allow him to listen in to the chatter, what there was of it, between the pilots.

He was just in time to catch Trowa's report of the new threat to the colony. He made himself sit perfectly still. Quatre was correct. The locals had to be allowed to try to resolve the issue first.

* * *

"Kira, what are you doing?" Joule demanded irritably.

"I'm making this shelter into a giant antenna," Kira told him. "I want to know what those pirates are up to."

He twisted the scavenged wires together and hooked them up to the surge protector and the modulator he'd taken from Yzak's broken beam saber, without telling him, that would let him fine tune the reception much like an antique radio. It was a primitive contraption but he knew it would work. He and Kuzzey Buskirk had built several smaller versions of this at school for that project in reproducing antique science. It had taught them all not to treat those old scientists with such disrespect just because they hadn't had the tools modern researchers had.

All right, it was ready. He began to turn the knob very, very slowly. Since he'd put this together using his Gundam, even the smallest turn could actually cover quite a bit of the radio spectrum if he wasn't extremely careful. Gundams had large hands after all.

". . . . right Carter. You take in six suits and I'll take in six. The five damaged units we'll just abandon. That leaves us one good suit that we'll have to jettison."

"Anyone volunteering?" The speaker sounded tired.

When there had been silence for several seconds he asked again. "We need a volunteer boys. Whoever it is will get their choice of the suits at Red Base."

"Choice?" A gravelly voice enquired distrustfully. "What's that gonna be worth after everyone and his dog gets done 'reserving' their specials?"

"Captain Napci is dead. None of his orders stand. We'll have to elect a new fleet leader. And in the mean time, as Fleet Second, I can promise you choice, no reserves allowed."

There were several more seconds of silence, then the gravel voice spoke again. "All right Captain. You got yourself a deal."

"Done Gorman. Everyone here stands witness. Ed Gorman is voluntarily giving up his working mobile suit due to space restrictions. He has first choice of replacement at Red Base, no reserves allowed. Is this heard?"

"Heard, witnessed and enforced with a blade!" It was a ragged chorus.

"Friendly bunch," Dearka muttered.

"Trusting too," Yzak added drily.

"Now load!" It was the first speaker again. "I want to shoot this wretched colony to bits and just leave!"

That brought another ragged chorus of agreement. Kira however, jerked to his feet. Quick strides took him to the edge of the doorway. He scanned the sky rapidly and his heart sank.

A slight trembling of the colony under him told him Dearka was coming up to join him. It took the other no longer than it had him to understand the situation.

"Shit!" Elsman swore softly.

"What's wrong?" Yzak snapped, catching the tone instantly.

"The ships are already about three kilometers apart. We're gonna have to hit each one individually."

"It's worse than that," Kira said softly. "We have to take them out on the first shot. If we don't, the one we miss will shoot the colony and all the researchers here will die."

"We can do that." Dearka said confidently.

"Blitz-Raider doesn't have the firepower." Kira told him bluntly. "And you know it. You can kill a ship, but you'd need two or three shots. You aren't going to get them."

"Then what do you suggest Kira? You can't split your shots, not and be sure you're gonna knock 'em down!"

"No, I'm going to give them an alternate target. I'll get one for sure. Then it's a question of being able to dodge the other's fire long enough to get turned around to kill him."

"ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"No." Kira Yamato replied, voice stone cold. "Now be ready to at least try to get Yzak out of here if I fail."

"Oh," He reached out and jerked the joined beam rifles out of Dearka's hands. "I'll be needing this. You'll have your hands full with the Command Duel."

He turned and kicked down the inverted v divider he'd put up earlier. "There. You can move him quickly now. Well, what are you waiting for? I'm going now!"

Strike-Freedom took three long strides and launched at full power. He went up from the surface like a rocket. And he was just about as hard to miss.

Dearka stood rooted in place. Seconds later, to his surprise, Yzak staggered over to join him. Together they could only stare up.

Behind them though someone else was on his feet even before Kira could launch. "04 to 01! Mission compromised! Colony endangered! He's only going to be able to get one of them! You _must_ get the other!"

"Mission accepted."

A split second later, a second rocketing mobile suit roared off the surface of Mendel Colony.

Speed, speed and surprise, they were all he had going for him. Kira raced for altitude. He needed to put himself directly between the two pirates, where they couldn't fire on him without hitting each other.

He was slightly closer to the one on his right. Fine, that was his first target then. He was locking all systems on before he was half way to the necessary height.

_It was a slightly faster suit than his over long distances but he had launch boosters the other lacked. He would catch up. And he was reading the start of target lock. The other was taking the right hand target. Then he would take the left._

_He was only a few dozen meters behind the other now. Deceleration! Firing altitude rapidly approaching! He'd caught up with the other suit!_

Fifteen seconds to firing. Orient to face the target! Open the wings. Deploy the DRAGOONs. Bring up the sniper rifle. All locked on! FIRE!

_Altitude achieved! Turn toward the target! Wings opening! Buster rifle locked on! FIRE!_

To everyone watching from the colony, destruction roared out in two directions simultaneously. Multicolored, multi-sourced energies raged to one side, and the enemy in front of them simply shattered, breaking into a halo of fine fragments thundering outward on the wind of a fireball. A pure column of expanding golden light shot to the other side. Everything in front of it simply changed states, moving from solid to plasma instantly. It cut a path of cleared space that stretched almost to Goddard Colony.

When the light show ended there was nothing left but two winged mobile suits hanging, quiet and still, over the intact colony.

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 16 Reactions

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Andy Waltfeld stuck his head in the engine room of the _Robert H Hobart,_ one of only two transports with possibly fixable engines sitting at Endymion Crater at the moment. She also had the only undamaged internal air supply as well, making the _Hobart_ the de facto command and hospital ship. It was just lucky she was a fair sized vessel because they needed every square inch of deck space in her they could get to set the wounded and those so traumatized they weren't safe anywhere else.

But Commander Waltfeld wasn't here to check on any of the wounded. He was looking for someone in perfectly good shape, a bit on the temperamental side right now maybe, but definitely not injured. He found him glaring at the ship's engineer, who was staring at the deck.

"What do you mean, you don't stock the parts?" Mu La Flaga's voice rose dangerously. "What kind of outfit lifts out of dock without basic maintenance materials? I'm talking about standard valves and shunts here, not some exotic military toys!"

"Mu, don't shout at the man," Andy said soothingly. "It isn't his fault the Lunar Tour Lines is a cut rate company with a terrible safety record. They carry nothing the law doesn't force them to stock. I've already sent that undersized but very determined Alliance Commander over to the Great Looney Excursions _Heinlein IV_. If a ship needs it, they'll have it. Those people do not skimp on their safety margins."

Mu La Flaga gave him a look that said he'd fried a circuit somewhere. "You sent that kid to get parts from a chief engineer for a ship that isn't his?"

"She's a Rockway," Andy grinned at him like a shark. "She'll come back with everything on the list. No civilian tells a Rockway they aren't providing supplies in an emergency situation. You should ask Joule to tell you about his run-in with her twin brother some time."

He shrugged, "I didn't come down here to discuss Honor Rockway though. We're in better shape than I thought we were going to be in. Commander Mansfield has jury-rigged a system to allow us to recharge individual suit air supplies directly from the tanks on those five wrecked transports. Everyone we can keep suited up, we can keep aired up. Which will take a lot of the pressure off this boat. Then too, between them, the newsies have managed to get one of their big comm sets working so we have two way communications again."

"How soon can we expect help," Mu asked.

"Local resources are rolling now," Andy replied quietly. "But most of the military resources were sent to L-4 the other day and they're coming overland with almost no cover. What's left here on the Moon has to be held to secure the bases here. The fleets are headed back as fast as their engines can blast but they're still a few hours out. The overland relief and the space forces should get here just about the same time."

Mu went very still. "What did they leave at L-4?"

A slow, cold smile touched Waltfeld's lips. "Why, I believe they left a picket boat each."

"Crap!"

"I made that suggestion to Admiral Hokeda but he didn't see it that way."

"The Princess is gonna have his guts for garters if anything happens to Kira."

"She'll have to get to him before Lacus does. Remember, Aube is at the bottom of the gravity well. The PLANTs aren't."

"Yeah? Well, he'd do well to remember she's got access to Asuka's Destiny. And she isn't afraid of Shinn. She'll just 'borrow' it without permission if she's mad enough. Oh, I think the Princess could get here first."

Andy gave that a few moments thought and had to agree. Cagalli would be in more kinds of trouble than she'd likely imagine when she got back but that wouldn't stop her from taking the powerful mobile suit in the first place. And she was a competent pilot, no matter what Shinn thought about it. Destiny carried a secondary, Natural-friendly OS now even if Asuka chose to pretend it didn't. All Aube mobile suits did; having systems for both Coordinators and Naturals on each machine was required by Aube military regulations and civil safety codes. Even if it hadn't, Andy wasn't absolutely sure Cagalli wouldn't be able to pilot it anyway. The Princess did a lot of things girls and Naturals weren't supposed to be capable of doing.

Waltfeld just shook his head slowly. "Lets hope we're both jumping at shadows here. The grand procession should be just fine."

"Yeah," Mu did not sound convinced, "who'd jump a pair of capitol ships and three escorts almost as good?"

A hatch banged somewhere behind Andrew's back and the sound of running feet approaching rapidly was heard. The two of them looked at each other. Then Miriallia Haw skidded to a stop in the hatchway of the engine room, eyes more than a bit wide.

"Come, you both gotta come! That wrecked computer on Mendel finally picked a _good_ time to act up! Someone's attacking the Foreign Minister's convoy!"

She whipped around and ran back the way she'd come, the two of them hard behind her.

"How bad is it?" Mu demanded to know.

"I'm not sure! There were ships coming at them from two directions when Murrue sent me to find you. No!" She grabbed Mu's arm when he tried to surge past her to reach the space suit locker so he would be able to reach the news communications van. "No, the bridge! We've got it up on the screens on the bridge!"

He changed directions like a cat, darting ahead of her with a powerful kick off the corridor wall to aid his new vector choice. Andy steadied the girl briefly, then the two of them were right behind him. The three of them burst onto the surprisingly spacious bridge and came to an abrupt stop when they ran into the small crowd already there. Murrue reached out and grabbed Mu, forcing him to stay stopped.

"How bad?" He asked her.

"Very," the Captain of the _Archangel_ replied grimly. "They're using the same kind of mobile suit carrier the ships who attacked here had. Mu, this is all tied together."

"Nine attackers are closing one end and twelve the other." A clear soprano voice said bleakly. "They're in serious trouble. Especially with the Minister aboard. He's got this notion he's God's unidentified gift to the military. He's going to get a lot of people killed."

The tiny speaker wore an Alliance Navy Commander's uniform. Rich, deep auburn hair spilled across her shoulders and her blue/violet eyes had furious sparks in them. She was standing on the second navigator's chair. At exactly five feet tall, Honor Rockway sometimes needed assistance in seeing over others in close groups.

She held out a small data tablet to Commander Waltfeld. "Got everything on your list Sir. The people from the _Heinlein IV_ will be delivering the materials shortly."

"Thanks." Andy absently took it from her hand, his eyes and attention on the unfolding action on the main screen.

It was a maddening battle to watch. The damned mainframe at Mendel needed to be overhauled or shot, preferably shot. The viewpoint jumped and skipped without warning between the many security cameras. For a few agonizing moments, it even broadcast the placid view of Earth from the colony from a camera on the far side of the colony from the battle! But over all, it was relatively easy for any experienced soldier to follow the fight. And to notice something.

"ZAFT has a mobile suit out there with Mirage Colloid capability." Rockway suddenly said quietly.

"Yes," Murrue Ramius agreed softly, "I think you're right."

"I can think of some places where that bit of information isn't going to be popular." Andy leaned forward, as though a few inches would improve his view.

"They're winning," Mu noted with satisfaction, "and if he helps makes that win possible you know and I know they'll hold their noses and just pretend they never saw it."

"Not unless they save the Foreign Minister," Rockway cautioned. "If he's lost, they'll be screaming for heads."

"That'll depend on how he's lost." Waltfeld leaned back again, giving up on the concept of incremental gains in visual improvement. "If the enemy pulls out something overpowering enough, even that can be overlooked."

The young Alliance officer shook her head. "It would have to be pretty spectacular to be overlooked when it's so clear they're going to win this now."

"Are they?" Murrue suddenly asked sharply. "All of you, look at how those ships are moving!"

"But, are they nuts?" Mir asked in shock. "This can't be right! They look like they're setting up to attack from both sides while on the _same plane_!"

"No," Mu sounded just as stunned, "no, you're right. That's what the idiots are doing all right. Oh shit. This is going to be nasty."

They watched the developing disaster in stunned silence. The feeling of helplessness was not welcome but it was all too familiar. With Mendel's erratic computer, it wasn't possible to know if this was a real time transmission or if it had happened a few hours ago. Whichever it was, no one on the Moon could do anything but watch.

The lockstep progression to catastrophe moved along as though scripted. The veterans in the tense audience ducked their heads and shielded their eyes as soon as the first beams fired. Flaring light from the tragedy thousands of kilometers away flooded the bridge of the _Robert H Hobart_. When it faded, those same veterans were the first to look up and find the disaster they'd expected. They also discovered there were a tiny handful of survivors.

"Damn it!" Someone close to the screen yelled. "Two of the bastards made it!"

"Kira's alive." Mir was crying on Murrue's shoulder, peering through tears at the screen. "And so is Yzak and whoever has that other suit. But those pirates are still there!"

"Yeah well, . . . shit no!" Mu shouted as the images suddenly stuttered, froze, and then went black. "YOU PIECE OF CRAP! YOU CAN'T CUT OUT NOW!"

"It just did." Andy was severely frustrated too but the situation didn't need both of them screaming at the blank screen.

Mu turned to him. "Andy, the kid's out there with Joule out of commission and only one man for backup. There's two ships left. We gotta do _something_."

"What?" Waltfeld asked quietly. "Akatsuki doesn't have that kind of range Mu."

The blue eyes hardened, suddenly becoming much more like Neo Roanoke's than Mu La Flaga's. "Let's get to the newsies van. We need to speak to a fleet commander or three. They can turn a couple of the faster ships around. What they're sending here is overkill anyway."

"I'll suit up and go over to the shell," Murrue told them flatly. "Someone needs to let Athrun know what's happening. And he may be able to put more pressure on the ZAFT fleet commander than you or Andy can."

"I'll take all the help I can get," Mu agreed grimly. "But I'd be surprised if he hasn't heard from Ms. Clyne before we even get hold of him."

"I'll give you backup with my people." Commander Rockway said quickly as she scrambled out of the chair she'd been standing on. "They might not be inclined to listen to Aube or ZAFT personnel, but I know Vice-Admiral Franks. He's the kind who listens to political reality. The _Irwin_ was right there with them the whole time. And given the defense those people put up, and what it cost ZAFT, the political reality is we can't be seen as deserting them. The price at the peace table would be too high."

"I don't care why he'd do it," Mu admitted. "All that matters is that he'd turn a _Nelson_ or two around and boot them back there."

"None of which will happen if we don't get moving!" Andy snapped, breaking up the natural drift toward wanting to talk about the situation with a demand for action on it.

The four of them suited up and hurried out. Murrue boosted over to the wreckage of the life shell and the ongoing recovery efforts there to fetch Athrun. The other three went straight to the one fully functional news van with two way communications, the others were still only able to broadcast, the pirates having paid particular attention to their reception equipment when they were breaking things. Murrue joined them with an anxious Zala in tow within minutes of their arrival.

And in the end, it was not necessary. The ZAFT commander had already heard from the PLANTs. All seven of the swifter _Nazca_'s had been sent back to L-4 while the six _Laurasia'_s continued on for Endymion. The _Kusanagi_ had turned back alone to make a high speed run only another _Izumo_ class could have kept up with. The remaining Aube fleet continued to head for the moon with the _Izumo_ herself on guard for more ugly surprises. And the Alliance, acting on orders from Vice-President Harper, who had beaten them to the news van, was already in the process of splitting off three _Nelson_ class ships to run back while the bulk of the fleet came on.

All they could do was take seats in the corner of the presentation cabin, where in better times an audience of journalists would be asking questions of a news figure, and wait for the reports. But the fastest of the ships still were almost forty hours away from L-4. The relief fleets would reach them at Endymion well before those ships could get to Mendel. The reports were going to be long in coming and incomplete when they did for many, many hours yet.

* * *

"Ms. Clyne? Please, Shiho, one of you talk to me!" Meyrin begged the two frozen faced young women who sat so still and silently in the Chairwoman's office. "They're alive, honest! You _saw_ the film! They survived! Please, please talk to me!"

"Meyrin," a weary voice said heavily, "don't. Let them be. There is nothing we can tell them that isn't subject to revision when the fleets get there. And they know it."

The fiery haired girl, tears streaking her face, whipped around angrily. "That's not nice Commander Joule! You shouldn't say things like that!"

The very tall, quite slender young man in ZAFT white, his pale gray hair and clear gray eyes a fair match for the rest of his complexion at the moment, just gave her a speaking look. "Yzak's my cousin, Meyrin. I understand what they're going through. I'm sorry, I know you really want to help but this isn't the best time for blind optimism. Just, I don't know, just be here for them. Quietly. Make sure they get something to eat, something harmless to drink. When they finally fade, just tuck them in on the couches here and leave the vid feeds on. The only thing that'll help now is solid information and that's still at least thirty-five hours away."

"But," the girl turned to look anxiously at the silent pair, "but they need more than that!"

"I know." Voril Joule agreed, exhaustion clear in every line of his body. "But there's nothing we can give them that'll help. You're going to need to rest yourself. You've been running top speed ever since that broadcast, trying to see to it that everyone had what they needed. You've neglected to make sure you've had what you need. You won't be much help if you pass out on us now."

"But . . . ."

"No! Get on that comm and order something easy to digest and a very large quantity of soothing tea. And when it comes, you will also eat and drink something." Commander Joule was not going to listen to the girl babble any longer, it wasn't helping either Lacus or Shiho and it was driving him nuts.

He leaned forward and fixed her with a sharp stare. "Lieutenant Hawk, at this moment it would be very helpful if you could recall the kind of calm under pressure that once made you a very fine CIC for the _Minerva_."

She stared at him. "Who ever told you about that?"

He sighed. "Athrun Zala is, well I suppose I actually can call the man a friend myself but more to the point, he's Yzak's friend. Even if neither of them will admit it. On those occasions when he and Yzak could actually let themselves talk to each other, one could overhear some very interesting takes on events recorded somewhat differently by formal history. And Athrun knew you when you held that position. He still speaks quite well of you. So, please, live up to Zala's image. Because that's the Meyrin Hawk we need right now."

"I, . . . ."

He smiled quietly at her, hoping to steady the upset girl. She still hadn't gotten over being in love with Athrun by the look of it. And this disaster had first threatened Athrun and now threatened her new boss and the team she was just getting used to being part of. It was not really good luck for her that she'd come with Shiho when the other young woman had come to give Lacus her report on her new mobile suit. But if she was going to be the go-to person Yzak wanted her to become when he had Shiho out of the office, she was going to need to at least become serious about going forward with her life, even if she never did manage to completely release the past.

To his pleased surprise, Meyrin stopped babbling and sat down for several long moments while she very carefully drew in very deep breaths and released them very slowly. It was a calming technique he knew quite well. Done right, and she seemed to be, it could allow you to drop an amazing amount of tension very quickly. So he was not at all surprised to see her stand quietly when she finished and begin to carry out his instructions with quick efficiency.

The meal turned out to be a very thick soup, one tasty enough to keep both Lacus and Shiho slowly eating until they'd finished their bowls. Three teas had been sent up. Voril brewed the calming one for Meyrin to supply her charges during the meal. When they were done with food, he made them one cup each of the relaxing one. He included Meyrin in that round just as he'd made sure she got some soup and some of the first tea.

He managed to persuade the three young women to sit together on the couch. It didn't surprise him or the very quiet and sharply observant man who was Clyne's Chief of Security when the three of them ended up huddled together, almost clinging to each other for support. Kira was the center of Lacus' world. Yzak centered Shiho's. With both of them missing now, it wasn't really a shock to find them both uncharacteristically adrift at the moment. And Meyrin was one of those girls who just had a gift for helping others, once she calmed down herself that was.

It actually helped to have the data stream finally trickle down to dribbles. Both Lacus and Shiho understood what distance actually meant in space and that no one was withholding data, they simply weren't close enough to have any more. The information stream was out of new data for the moment. There wouldn't really be anything to update until the _Kusanagi_ got close enough to run a real scan.

Even though she wasn't functioning well, Lacus did manage to remember to schedule an emergency Council meeting for late in the morning. While there wouldn't likely be any definitive information from Mendel, there were other areas that would be ready to report. It was a relief to more than Voril and the Security Chief to have the woman begin to recover enough to recall her duties. Both of them knew she would be better off if she could concentrate enough to actually _do_ something. Voril could only hope she'd remember to include Shiho in whatever it was finally decided was going to be done. That girl needed an outside focus too.

The long, nerve-wracking last two days were finally showing as the girls began to drift toward sleep. Once he was sure sleep was winning, he made them the last of the teas. This one would help them find their sleep dreamless. The PLANTs needed Lacus Clyne functional. To become functional again the minimum she needed was real, restful sleep. Nightmares would not help there.

It proved as effective as promised. Joule and the Chief tucked light blankets in around the sleeping girls to further improve their rest. Voril himself dropped off sitting in a large, overstuffed chair and would wake many hours later to find someone had done the same for him. The Chief however would be up through the night and into the following morning, making sure the latest data, however limited it might be, was always ready to hand for that moment when the Chairwoman of the Supreme Council of the PLANTs would wake.

* * *

"Shit!" Someone said softly as the newscast ended with a frozen picture of three ZAFT mobile suits running for the questionable safety of the surface of Mendel Colony.

"So, it's a complete failure then." Captain Terasawa shook her head slowly. "This is worse than I was expecting, a lot worse."

The three Captains of the Vulture Fleet sat in the meeting room aboard the _Starving Vulture_, reduced to staring silence by the completeness of the destruction. None of them had expected the ambush to come off without losses; they were all military veterans themselves and knew just what kind of folly the final attack plan had been. But they hadn't anticipated anything this devastating either.

The Red Swords were functionally gone. Napci had committed five of their seven ships to that fight and only the _Duelist_ had survived. Given that Yamato had also survived, the continued well-being of that ship and Mitchell's _Cleaver_ was very open to question. Especially since the damned Coordinator had an injured comrade to protect.

If they had the brains God gave geese, they'd just run like rabbits. Somehow though, Terasawa doubted they had that much mental ability left among the lot of them. No, some idiot was going to want to shoot something and Yamato would come back up and finish the fight all by himself.

She wasn't certain just why she was so sure the victory would go to the Coordinator but she had no doubts that it would. Lady Luck had deserted the men and ships sent after that damn kid. _Something_, something with real power too, had that boy in its hand! There was no other rational explanation for how he'd managed to survive two wars and this damned ambush!

Fine, she'd cut her losses. Ilene mentally crossed Kira Yamato permanently off her list of 'acceptable targets'. He was too lucky, his enemies ended up too often dead, he wasn't worth the risk. Let someone else with more hate and better backup try for him from now on. Her speech to that bastard Hannam hadn't really been serious when she'd made it. She was serious now though. There were people who lived under divine protection; she believed that with her whole heart. And she was almost convinced now that Yamato was one of them.

Claude Boothe was dead as well. His _Siegfried_ had been blown to unrecognizable bits in that final shoot-out. Since he'd brought three ships to the fight, his 'fleet' was also functionally gone. She could only hope someone with some genuine brains would pick up the survivors from his group and Napci's and make a real fleet out of them. They would be needed to stop Blue Cosmos.

Of the male fleet commanders who'd first let themselves be drawn into that bastard's scheming, only Dieter Ruhde was left now. The Captain of the _Ice Dragon_ had developed Jupiter Fever almost overnight as was the usual way for a Natural who came down with that nasty bug. He'd been unable to lead, sending his number two, Akumbo Assam, to command the other four ships.

He was probably still out of his head with the delusions the Fever brought with it. He was going to be a very, very unhappy man when he recovered, if he did. The Fever killed a good third of all who contracted it. His crew was just fortunate that it was not easy to catch or they'd all be in trouble, bottled up on that ship with a contagious Captain. She had to wonder what the fool had been doing a couple weeks ago to give it to himself and if he'd count himself lucky to have done so when he learned what had happened.

"So, now what?" Mickey Peters asked slowly.

"We keep our heads down and our ships out of sight," Ilene snarled. "They've just failed, spectacularly failed. But in doing so, they've given every government with a pop gun toting patrol boat out here the right to declare open war on us. And they will."

She sat back in her chair with grim finality. A glance around the table showed her no dissent. But then, she hadn't expected any. None of these women were stupid. They all understood the realities of both war and piracy.

"The tide's beginning to turn against us then." Yuki Hartono, Captain of the _Sated Vulture _just nodded. "Our lucks run a long time. It had to thin out some time."

"It hasn't deserted us yet," Ilene said evenly. "You'll note we're all still alive. But if we stick around that Blue Cosmos scavenger it will vanish like soap bubbles, with his generous help I'd like to add! Hannam intends to end up the man holding all the cards. Everyone else is a tool, to be used and then broken so it can't be turned back on him."

"Agreed," Lucy So of the _Smiling Vulture_ said shortly.

"And what do you think we should do now? Raid the PLANTs? Or targets on Earth itself?" Mickey asked cautiously.

"I told you, we vanish," Terasawa replied decisively. "We take the ships to the base and put them and all the mobile suits into temporary mothballs and disperse across the rebuilding colonies, the Moon, and the Earth. It's time to hide our people for a while. The Vulture Fleet needs to simply disappear. Most of us have other identities we can pick up again. The few who don't or who simply want to stay in space will break out the cruiser with me and continue quietly tracking the signal data until we get a lock on the location of both Blue Cosmos space bases."

She looked around. "I'm not too proud to sell that information to the ZAFT either by the way. They'll have the firepower to take them out in one strike. We don't and aren't likely to ever build up to that kind of strength. No, we can use one enemy to kill the other; and make them pay us handsomely for the chance to do it too!"

The smile she gave them all made them a touch uneasy. Terasawa was a better than good leader, but there were a couple points where her sanity was honestly open to question. Anything relating to the almost twenty year dead religious leader Jun Yat Moon was one and Blue Cosmos was another. Still, so far she'd made her instabilities work for them. And she had a good point about the relative ability to destroy the space bases.

"If we can pinpoint the land bases, do you think the Aube would pay for those?" So asked thoughtfully.

"No," Hartono said before Ilene could. "They don't act beyond their own borders, remember? The young Lioness has her Council in a steel grip now and the full backing of her people. They'll not stir unless they're outright attacked."

"Which is the real reason I didn't kill Zala," Terasawa pointed out dourly. "He's a cherished friend at the very least. If the more lurid rumors are accurate, he's likely to end up her husband. Killing him would bring Cagalli Yula Athha into this to the bitter end, however long it took her to reach that end. Worse, it would set her brother on our trail. And he would be coming with intent to kill. I'd rather not take that risk. No, we can sell Blue Cosmos to the Eurasians. They owe those people so much blood it isn't even funny."

"Oh, you've got that right," Yuki agreed bitterly, "for JOSH-A alone if for no other betrayal."

"Yes," Ilene agreed coldly. "And we all know there have been many, many betrayals there, large and small. They'd probably like to settle with the Atlantic Federation too."

Lucy shook her head. "They aren't strong enough, even now, to try that."

"But that doesn't mean they won't try to undermine them." Mickey pointed out very quietly. "There's a lot of hate there. We should spend some serious time scouting out just what those bastards are up to. They're actually more dangerous to us than the Alliance is. They think in much longer terms when they plan revenge."

All of them gave the _Starving Vulture_'s Executive Officer a thoughtful look. She had a damn good point there. It was no secret to them that there was a cabal of young and mid-level officers among the Chinese who had rather grandiose ideas of their place in the world. And that place didn't include bowing to anyone else, especially not to anyone of European background.

Eyes met eyes around the table. No word was spoken but a consensus built quickly. They were Asian themselves, they understood the arrogance of those racist hot-bloods. They understood the historic background as well. They were intimately familiar with the kind of wounded pride that drove those men.

And all nations cycled. Egypt had ruled for thousands of years, Rome for a few centuries. England and France had had their days of glory once too. The North Americans had held on a lot longer than anyone would have expected them to. Perhaps it was now their time to fall and China's to rise again. Yes, perhaps it was. But that wasn't necessarily good for their business.

No, if the Alliance fell they would benefit only as long as chaos lasted. Having China ready to step into the power vacuum they seemed to want to create would not be healthy for any pirate. Ilene Terasawa took one last look around the table and smiled grimly. The Alliance could eat dirt for all she cared, but she would not help those arrogant bastards, so like her damn father, to step into their vacant place.

No, chaos alone would serve. So chaos, its creation and maintenance, would be the Vulture Fleet's new goal. The Captains of the Fleet sat down to many hours of serious planning to ensure that goal was met.

* * *

"What are you watching now?" G asked caustically as he stalked past the kitchen in the direction of the uninspired selections on the pantry shelves.

"The news, what else is there to pay attention to that matters right now?" J asked just as acidly in return.

"Wonderful! Now you'll be depressed for the rest of the day. You're such a joy to be around when you've been doing that. The universe won't go away, just shut the damn thing off for a few hours. I'm sure you'll be less inclined to hand me the wrong parts if your brain isn't fried from listening to that drivel."

"Actually, it isn't all bad today," J grinned wolfishly. "Seems someone managed to sneak a homemade bomb into Crimson Dawn's main mobile suit plant. According to Une, it's going to be off-line for a week or more before they can clean up the mess."

G snorted. "You didn't get that off the news feeds."

"Of course not," J chuckled evilly. "No, the news is oddly silent on such an important item."

"One wonders why," G said, dripping sarcasm. "What else did the good General have to say?"

"Several things that have bearing on our operations here actually. Firstly, that bomb wasn't a Preventer device. It was some very clever and very angry colonial who built and delivered it. Une says it was a suicide device although she doesn't have good data on what pushed the man to do it. And while it will have short term benefits, it has just made the planned Preventer attack a great deal more complicated."

"Have they gotten any other facilities set up to build those damn suits yet?" G interrupted.

"Une says no, and yes, I did think to ask her by the way. But you and I know that's only a question of time now. This attack will push them very hard to accelerate their construction rates. Between this loss and what one of Colonel Saito's teams managed to pull off again, Crimson Dawn is suddenly hurting a bit for mobile weapons."

G looked up with interest. "What happened? I haven't read any of the reports yet, been too busy completing the last connections on Epyon's restored heat whip."

"Apparently they didn't learn enough from the man's attack at Fort Bragg last month. He got another infiltration team inside one of their larger mobile suit staging bases, this one someplace I've never heard of in California, and destroyed over forty suits and did significant damage to at least thirty more. He copied Wu Fei's attack at Victoria too and took out at least three barracks as well. So they've lost the pilots as well as the suits. And the trained pilots will be harder to replace now."

That earned him a slow nod as G pulled a pair of pre-packaged meals off the shelf without looking at them, his mind distracted by more important things than the meal menu. "I take it recruiting is falling off a bit then?"

"It seems to be," J replied thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, it's hard to say for sure. But there's a finite supply of trained mobile suit pilots in any case and a lot of them preferred the ESUN. The genuine veterans tended to be very chary of getting dragged back into a war. While a lot that went on behind the backs of people like the President and Relena has made a lot of people very disgusted with the government, the Rational Revolution is no longer making any new friends."

"That's taken them a lot less time to make themselves unwelcome than I thought it would," G noted as he tossed the packets in to heat up. "Just over five weeks; that's quick work to manage to sour the whole world on your revolution."

"Yes it is," J agreed. "They haven't quite managed to sour everyone yet but they've sure killed the initial enthusiasm they were greeted with."

"J, how much time do we have?" G suddenly asked in a dead serious voice that would not accept any dodges or pretenses not to understand the question.

"The slippage is still constant. The best projections I've been able to make gives us a true safe margin of six more months. We would probably be safe at eight but that's a risk I don't want to take if we can avoid it."

"You haven't told Zechs yet have you?"

"What, that it seems time flows faster here than there? No. And I don't plan to either until I can't get out of it. We're off sync by nine point two one days now. It's more than enough for Zechs to notice if we're at all careless about time references. So don't be, hear me? We're gaining real ground on repairing their suits and they've not been cooped up as long there as it would have been here. This is win/win and I want it to stay that way!"

"Well, yes, I understand that!" G snapped. "But is it safe to leave them there? What will that time difference do to them when they get back?"

J sighed. "If you want some absolute answer, get hold of God because I don't have any. You've seen the same data I have. It says they should come back having aged only at the rate of the universe they were in. So they'll always be a few weeks younger than they should be but that should be the extent of the effects of a short visit like this. If we were talking years, I'd worry."

"You don't worry enough!"

"Give me an alternative with a reasonable chance of success and I'll call them back today. If you can't, then tell me what you think we should be doing about something we can't _do_ anything about!"

The pragmatic demand left G with no arguments to hand. The soft 'bing' of the heater broke his concentration, reminding him the initial reason for coming here was food, not to fight with J. Besides, if he was going to be honest with himself, and lying to one's self was fairly stupid, he'd just admit J was right again. He really shouldn't start these things when he didn't have an answer.

He fished the two now-warm meal packets out of the unit and slid them onto the table. In an unusual demonstration of domesticity, J pulled the utensils out of the drawer and snagged a pair of cool water bottles out of the refrigerator. So much for setting the table. They ate in somewhat disgruntled silence.

How long that might have lasted was anyone's guess. They'd once managed to work together while being completely pissed off at each other for five months; a period that hadn't done much to speed work on the Tall Geese as G recalled ruefully. So simple irritation could last nigh on to forever if they worked at it. He was considering just how idiotic he really wanted to be when the only thing he was going to get from it was some mild stress relief when the alarm sounded from the portal machine's room.

Both of them jumped. And both took a quick breath as they recognized this alarm as the one tied to the recording system. They bolted for the old observation bubble together; something had come in on the aliens' news that bore directly on the Gundam team.

G still had both his own legs, it made him the faster of the two even in low gravity situations. He dived in the open hatch, recognizing the beginnings of a nasty fight as he focused on the screen. He recognized the trapped ships too. Most belonged to that moron of a Foreign Minister and the other was his luckless ZAFT escort. They'd been all over the other side's news lately. He reached the board and turned up the sound just as J whipped himself through the hatch.

" . . . images are being broadcast from the Mendel Colony! The mainframe there is severely damaged and will occasionally send out images from the security system without any apparent provocation. These broadcasts are very irregular and no one has any control over them. Associated Networks will provide continuous coverage of the situation as long as the images continue to be sent out!"

The news anchor was clearly almost stunned, as they knew his audience had to be. This then was completely unexpected. The pictures were laying out the situation with a disjointed but surprising clarity. Associated Networks, as best G could recall, was an independent news collection and broadcasting group. They were not really based in any one nation although they seemed to have deep connections into both the North Atlantic Federation and the Aube Emirates. They were as close to an unbiased source as the two of them had found so far, which was why the reception station was generally tuned to their frequencies.

"Our chief commentator for space actions, Admiral Sims, is joining us live from London." The anchor bowed slightly to a stern looking, white haired man with hard eyes and a look of cold fury on his face. "Admiral, will you please sum up the situation for our viewers?"

"The situation is very bad." The Admiral had a clipped, quite old-fashioned English accent and he made an ugly situation look as grim as it was to even the most military-ignorant fool over there using tone and inflection alone. "The area the flotilla is trapped in can not be forced to the side to allow the ships to escape. There is simply too much dangerous debris there. They have no choice but to fight their way out, if they can. While it isn't clear who the enemy is yet, it is quite obvious the numbers are not on the defender's side here."

The two of them watched in silence. There was nothing they could do about this fight. Indeed, given some of the comments the news anchor made, that erratic system might be broadcasting something many hours old. So they just listened to the commentary and watched one of the more vicious mobile suit battles they'd ever seen.

If they'd ever had any thoughts that there weren't significant differences between the ability levels of the normals, the so called Naturals, and the altered people known as Coordinators over there, this fight would have killed the illusion. Sixty or more of the Natural's mobile suits weren't quite managing to do the same level of harm to their enemy as the seven Coordinator's were. Superior equipment was part of it, obviously. The Coordinator's had two visible suits and one stealth unit out there that were doing tremendous damage. The four lesser units were being superbly handled as well. The Naturals were running on raw courage and excellent training, but they couldn't match the pure skill of the Coordinators. It was obvious now just how the much smaller Coordinator forces had managed to come so close to winning two wars with their vastly outnumbered forces.

G flinched as the screen flared to brilliant light with the cataclysmic final shots. "What complete imbecile came up with that plan?"

"Good question," J growled, eyes narrowed as the screen began to fade back to something other than a wash of pulsing lights. "Whoever it was, I hope he just committed suicide there. That kind of idiocy doesn't deserve to live."

"Maybe," G noted grimly, "but someone made it. Looks like two of the attackers and maybe some of the mobile suits as well."

"The three top-end Coordinator suits survived as well." J eyed the situation and didn't like it. "I don't know if they're enough to take out what's left of their enemies though. The one suit is clearly damaged."

"Have a question for you," G suddenly grinned. "Does this look like it's completely random?"

J went quite still. "No. The coverage has been too good. We've seen the entire fight and . . . . , damn! The signal just cut out!"

"Or was turned off."

"Lets see if we can get hold of Zechs."

"Yes, I'd like to know what the final result was myself."

The pair of them moved quickly but without the earlier urgency to the portal station in the mobile suit hanger. Their communications equipment for reaching the Gundam team was still in there along with the portal itself. Neither was surprised to see that the comm had been cut from the other side for over an hour. It had reopened only a few minutes before they'd gotten there.

Both old men breathed soft sighs of relief. The now open comm line meant the colony was still intact and at least some of their people were still alive. The lack of any emergency flashes suggested they probably were all fine.

J activated the comm and waited for someone to answer it. The line opened in seconds, Zechs face looking dead tired, gazed out at them. They both noticed all four of the girls behind him but none of the pilots. And everyone was suited up as well. They all had their helmets close to hand but there were marks on everyone's faces that said those helmets had been sealed until just a few minutes ago. So, it had been that touch and go had it?

"We've just been watching a news broadcast," J said calmly. "Would anyone care to tell me how it ended?"

"Commander Yamato destroyed one of the surviving pirates," Zechs said wearily. "They were intending to target the colony, to destroy it before they left."

"Yuy got the other one then." G made it a statement, not a question.

Zechs nodded. "Watch, I'll have Relena replay the end for you."

The two of them just watched in silence as the two mobile suits moved and struck like a well-honed team instead of perfect strangers. Relena froze the screen with a truly beautiful image of the two winged units, weapons forward, guarding each other's backs. Yes, it was a spectacular picture, but it was also the end of their secrecy.

"Now what?" J asked for them both.

"Now, well now Quatre is opening negotiations with the Coordinators. We will have to meet and talk to them. I'm afraid none of the three of them missed just how much damage Wing Zero did. It's going to be a bit hard to explain away to the rescue forces racing back here too. Yuy's buster rifle does a completely different kind of damage from the indigenous beam weapons." Zechs shook his head. "We're going to need their cooperation if we're going to have any chance of staying out of sight. And while I regret the deaths of some very brave people, I'm not sorry to only have to deal with one side of the local conflict. I just hope we can keep it that way."

"Dr. J," Dorothy interrupted, "before we get into these meetings, how much longer should we have to remain here? We need some figures for our discussions. Well, not so much for sharing as just for our own knowledge."

"Unless the situation changes seriously, it will be at least two more weeks before the Epyon and the Wing are ready. You have been watching the news feeds we've been forwarding?" He asked more to make sure than because he was expecting anything but a 'yes'.

At their nods, J continued. "Crimson Dawn has killed the first wave of enthusiasm they were greeted with. They've proven to be ruthless killers and that isn't going down so well as I believe they naively thought it would. From what they say in public and what Une has been able to discover of their private communications, they seem to have thought that mass slaughter of all associated with the 'evil and corrupt' ESUN would be approved. Just why some of them were that stupid when they included whole families in their indiscriminate butchery is beyond me but they do seem surprised. The Sun isn't that stupid, internal memos the Preventer's have managed to get hold of suggest he's trying to get the rest of them to back off on their 'cleansing' but he isn't as powerful internally as it appears from the outside. He hasn't been able to do much more than slow it down a bit."

"Unfortunately," G put in, "it doesn't look like they've quite managed to make themselves unpopular enough yet to turn people back to the Preventers in large numbers. Une's guessing that will take at least couple more months and at least one attack on someone other than those formally aligned with the old government."

"What's your situation?" Zechs asked bluntly.

"Fairly good at the moment," G replied. "They haven't had a chance to do more than basic repairs of the local Preventer station so we're still not getting the kind of scanning coverage we were worried about. The team that took the place was apparently fairly well shot up so they didn't do much patrolling either. The new team is more concerned with the Sweepers than it is with wreckage that hasn't changed signal levels in months so we're being mostly left alone. We did shut down and go completely dark the one time they sent a ship by. That was the one I told you about the other day. There's been nothing out our way since."

"Zechs!" Relena called. "Quatre wants to know if you have any issues with bringing them straight in to the landing bay."

The platinum blond just sighed. "No, trying to hide from those three now would be an exercise in futility. They know we're here and I have my doubts about how well we could evade them if they decided to seriously hunt. I would rather display trust and see if we can build on that. We'll be a great deal safer if we don't let them get any hostile ideas."

"Who are you inviting in?" G asked, curiosity openly displayed for a change.

"Commanders Yamato and Joule and Joule's wingman." Zechs turned, "Dorothy, what is that boy's name?"

"Dearka Elsman."

"Right, Elsman," Zechs shook his head. "Their names even sound so much like ours. It's rather disorienting sometimes."

J looked up sharply. "Their names aren't Yzak Joule and Kira Yamato by any chance?"

Zechs straightened. "Yes."

"Good! You should remember both of them from your studies of the last two wars. They're very highly placed in the PLANTs now. If you can cut a deal with them, they have the authority to actually help you." J grinned, a rather feral look that didn't seem to make Merquise very happy. "I'd like one more of those n-jammer cancellers if you can get it. I don't know if anyone here is going to invent the equivalent of an n-jammer but I do know Crimson Dawn is working on something to stop a Gundam. Everything I can do to change our machines, to make them stronger in unexpected directions, I'm interested in it. If they want to discuss technology trades, we should consider them."

"Why?" Mariemaia asked. "I'm sure we could learn a great deal here but why give our data away? They might not always be friends."

"Child," G gave her a narrow-eyed smile, "who controls the portal between worlds?"

Enlightenment widened her eyes. "Oh, of course! Once we're home, they can't follow us! So it won't really matter will it?"

"Not in our lifetimes," J replied dryly.

"Heero says they're coming in now!" Noin suddenly called. "I think you may want to close this link before they get here. The issue of tech trades is something for the future after all. We have to agree to live and let live first."

"Fine," G agreed, hand going out to the board before J could stop him. "We'll see you later."

The link broke as he turned it off. J gave him a scorching look. G simply smiled evilly at him.

"Oh grow up J," he snorted. "I found the 'view only' setting three weeks ago. Now bring it up and we can both watch this."

J suddenly grinned back, just as evilly as G had. "All right, find a second chair."

The two of them settled back after a few adjustments. J tapped into the cameras he'd had G spot around the landing bay. Within minutes of getting everything clear and sharp, Altron cycled through the lock. Rather to their surprise, Wu Fei set his Gundam in its bay and hopped out, still fully suited up. Then they understood. He was going to evacuate the air and let them all in at once.

Fifteen minutes later, the massive lock opened and seven more Gundams filed into the huge bay, dwarfing the space with their size and numbers. Both old men stared in shock as the image shook when the three native suits strode into the bay. Not only were all three taller than even Wing Zero by close to two meters or more, they had to be unbelievably massive to shake the walls of the bay like that just by walking! What were these things made of?


	18. Chapter 18

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 18 First Contact

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

"Fucking shit!"

The whisper came from Dearka, Kira recognized his voice. And he rather doubted that shock in the other's tone had anything to do with the complete destruction of the pirate and half dozen mobile suits that had been in front of his own weapons moments ago. No, if he was placing bets, Kira would bet on the cause having something to do with that gold light that had reflected everywhere as things blew up in front of him. A very bright light that suggested a discharge from one very, very powerful weapon.

"You have company," Yzak said absolutely flatly.

Kira nodded, forgetting that he didn't have the visual open and they couldn't see him. "With or without white wings?"

"With."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing, he's just there, right at your back," Joule told him slowly. "You're at his by the way."

"Ah, all right." Kira gave the situation quick thought. This could go very badly if he made any serious mistakes. The stunned note in Dearka's voice had told him a great deal about how effective the other's weapon was. They didn't need that weapon doing something they'd all regret, however brief the chance to reflect on the error might be.

So he began to quite slowly and deliberately take his own weapons off ready status. The rail guns were unhurriedly lowered to their standby position. He shut down the chest cannon, knowing the energy drain would be readable. And he called the DRAGOONs back to their wing mounts and closed the wings with even deliberation. Lastly, he lowered Elsman's twinned rifles until the unit was hanging, still in hand but quietly at his side.

-------------------------------

"04, status?" Heero asked warily.

"He's being very quiet," Quatre reported. "He has to have seen the reflection from your shot, he knows you're there."

"'Ro, ya might wanna touch a side thruster. The two of you are drifting together from the energy recoil." Duo sounded oddly thoughtful. "He's gotta be a lot more massive than you are, Hee-chan. You're clearly moving toward him a lot faster than he's moving toward you. I wonder what that thing weighs."

"Heero!" Quatre snapped. "He's begun to close his weapons down!"

Heero tapped his main thrusters and reversed his momentum, making sure he was now moving very slowly forward. If the local, the 'Coordinator', didn't want to start a fight, then he'd encourage that reaction. The other pilot had friends watching, they'd report his actions.

He uncoupled the twinned buster rifles slowly and deliberately. Once he was sure the other two suit pilots could see what he'd done, he carefully mounted the two onto the Wing Zero's shield. That was followed by closing the wings into resting mode. He let the shield down until it too was held in resting mode and lowered the right arm to his side. Then he waited.

"His weapons are fully down, Heero." Quatre informed him quietly. "He's touched his thrusters; I think you are almost stationary relative to each other."

"Hn." He was now at something of a loss. His training was extensive and exhaustive, but it never even touched on the 'fictional' concept of alien contact. Heero Yuy realized he'd just run out of ideas.

-------------------------

Kira managed to orient the Strike-Freedom to allow him to check on his friends. The angular shift was fairly small; he doubted it would be noticed in particular by the strangers. But he knew this suit wasn't alone and he wanted a chance to check for any more of them.

He found two immediately. Dearka and Yzak had moved out into plain view as they watched the suit at his back. But there were two other mobile suits just inside the shelter of that old elevator now.

He recognized the two tone gray one with the bat-like wings. They were still folded neatly across the unit's chest. But the other was completely new. It was largely white from this angle with touches of what looked like lavender. Strange color combination for a war machine. Perhaps the pilot was female? Although what looked like two huge, heavily curved blade weapons mounted on the back didn't suggest much that was feminine.

They didn't suggest a space model either. Those were close order weapons, not well suited to the ranged type of combat most common to space battles. The black shrouded one didn't appear to be mounting much in ranged weapons either. Ground combat suits?

"Ah, Kira, what next?" Dearka asked quietly, as though he was worried the new mobile suit might hear him. "You two can't just hang up there forever. He doesn't seem to want a fight any more than you do by the way. He's closed his weapon down too. Folded the wings as well. Did you know that thing has _two_ sets of wings? Weird."

"I'm not sure," Kira admitted. "No matter what Yzak thinks I was taking in school, alien contact absolutely was _not_ on the list! It never came up at Aube either. I'm open to suggestions here. I can see lots of problems, starting with language, but not much in the way of solutions. And I've still got my back to it; I haven't seen the wings at all."

"Oh, yeah, right. Well, it does."

He debated telling them about the pair right behind them but he didn't want anyone jumping and grabbing a beam saber or something else just as stupid. Joule and Elsman were damn steady but this, well; he'd probably be the one doing stupid things if some alien mobile suit walked up behind him too. And neither was doing anything but watching. So the one up here wasn't the only one who didn't want to start a new kind of war.

Suddenly a second comm line lit. Kira eyed it curiously. He hadn't sent out a contact pulse but here this was, and on one of the secure lines too. He tapped it, allowing audio and visual in but keeping the transmission one way for the moment.

" . . . . . absolutely not!" The voice was light and fairly high but had a note of command in it that Kira instantly recognized although there was a very decided accent here that made the speaker difficult to understand, requiring close attention to what was being said. "And we will use the local language from now on."

"Q!" That was a protest, no matter what language it was in.

"I said local language Duo! We need to make contact, not start a fight because of lack of communications."

"…………"

Kira stared at the screen in fascination. This looked like a male, mostly. But he really didn't know any guys with hair like that. That braid drifting behind his head had to be several feet long! He was a huge improvement on the old goat with the mushroom hair. Looked like he was pretty close to being his own age too.

There were four other, smaller images paired on either side of the screen as well. A focused blond with startlingly kind eyes, an unmistakable Asian with stern features, a slightly older European type with a great shock of hair concealing one eye, and a Eurasian with the most intently powerful gaze Kira had ever seen and more very long hair. They were wearing dark pressure suits with different colored decorative highlights, all of them metallic and all of them in the same pattern. The interesting thing was all of them had their helmets off. That wasn't something someone who was expecting a fight did.

A careful touch brought up his line to Dearka and Yzak. "I'm going to send you something I'm getting. Make sure your screens are set lock out two way communications on the line. And it looks like I'm going to owe Lacus an apology."

"Eh?" Dearka grunted, then his eyes widened as he caught the pictures. "Oh!"

"Where are they?" Yzak muttered, concern and irritation blending in his voice.

"Well, stand very still please because the dark suit with the bat wings and a new one we haven't seen before are right behind you." Kira spoke softly, trying to keep either of the others from jumping. It seemed to work as neither suit so much as twitched, as mobile suits could when someone's hands jerked the controls just enough to set off incipient movement. He sent them both clear shots of the two alien suits too.

"They're a little smaller than we are." Dearka noted coolly as he closely studied the picture Kira was sending. "Still don't see a weapon on that bat suit."

"There's a pole mounted over the shoulder now," Yzak said softly. "It could be a two-handed beam blade of some kind. We've seen those before."

-------------------------

"So, Q-man, what do we do?" Duo asked somewhat uneasily as the other mobile suits just stood there in front of him.

"We wait," Quatre replied calmly. "In case you missed it, the one up by Heero has changed his orientation very slightly. He can see us now. Which means he's almost certainly told the two here about us. It is very important that we not do anything threatening right now."

"Ah, how long do we stand around being 'not threatening'?"

"However long it takes."

Duo gave his screen a disgusted look. "Ya do know we could all die of old age playing this game, right?"

"Trowa's looking for their communications frequency," Quatre reminded him firmly. "Once we have that, we can move forward a bit faster. We just need to know something of how they're taking this."

The American shook his head. "You're missing something here. These guys know how many of those canceller things G took. And right now, they can only account for half of 'em. I'd be real still and wary until I knew where the other mobile suits were too."

"He has a point." Wu Fei said it like it hurt to admit Maxwell was capable of any logic.

"Love ya too Woofers," Duo snarled.

"Enough!" Quatre snapped. "This is difficult enough without the two of you getting into it. Stop that right now."

"Duo's right though," Trowa suddenly put in. "And I'm not getting anything. We need to stimulate a conversation. I'm going to walk over slowly and join you. Wu Fei, will you come with me?"

"Yes."

For several minutes nothing seemed to happen. Then Duo realized the suit hanging over them was moving. It rotated slowly, weapons still locked down, and then began to drop toward them, also in slow motion. Heero matched the other's actions. Quatre gave a sudden small grunt.

"You ok Q-man?" Duo asked quickly.

"Yes, I'm fine Duo," Quatre sighed. "I think one of them just caught sight of Trowa and Wu Fei. There was a very sharp emotional spike there, a very defensive one. He calmed down almost instantly though."

"They're moving!" Duo snapped up alertly.

The two Coordinator mobile suits were indeed moving. They stepped slowly away from the elevator and gradually turned, allowing Duo to see more than the flight packs on their backs. They both stopped about a hundred feet out. By that time, they were in three quarter profile to him. And, he realized, the third suit was going to be landing beside the pair of them in the next few moments.

"Duo, lets join the others." Quatre already had Sandrock in motion as he spoke, walking toward Heavyarms and Altron who had come to a halt perhaps two hundred feet from the locals.

He followed Sandrock. Yuy was setting the Zero down on his right, leaving Quatre in the center of their group. The landing Coordinator was putting the damaged suit between his and the other undamaged unit. And now they were all here, just staring at each other. Well, wasn't this just peachy!

Several minutes of silence did nothing for his outlook on the situation. Barton was not finding their comm frequency. Or maybe they just weren't talking. And staring at three damn dangerous looking war machines was not doing his nerves any good. The dark one and the white and light gray were bad enough but that suit the Yamato guy had was just outright scary doing nothing more than standing there motionlessly. Something had to give here before someone else's nerves twitched the wrong way.

"Shit! Quatre, this is going nowhere!" Duo finally snapped.

"I'll listen if you have a better idea," the blond replied, beginning to sound a bit irritated himself.

"Actually, yeah, I do. Trowa probably isn't the only one looking for a comm frequency. So let's see if someone's found one."

"Duo!" Wu Fei snapped. "What are you going to do?"

"Say hello!"

Before anyone could argue with him, or Zero could grab Deathscythe, Duo marched six fast steps forward and opened the active cloak. "Hi! Name's Duo Maxwell. I may run and I may hide but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell. So, who're you guys?"

---------------------------

"How long are we just going to stand here?" Yzak growled. "It's been almost ten minutes!"

"No idea," Dearka answered quietly. "But they sure aren't doing anything hostile."

"They aren't doing anything period!" The aggravated Commander of FAITH bit out shortly.

"This has to be wearing on them too." Kira tried to calm Joule down without being obvious about it. "We have their comm frequency, they haven't found ours. So we have a better idea of what's going on than they do."

"Yeah, the problem with that is having only one side in the know is it leads to bad decisions on the part of the other side." Dearka reminded them all.

"But we now at least have some names to go with the faces," Kira pointed out. "We pretty much know who has which suit too. I don't think we've done so badly for ten minutes of just standing around."

"I'm kinda surprised the blond, Katra, is the one in charge." Dearka said thoughtfully. "He just doesn't look like the leader type. I'd have bet on either the pure Asian guy or the Eurasian."

"They're the most disorganized Team I've ever seen!" Yzak exclaimed. "They seem to have no command structure! The ZAFT is a military dictatorship next to that chaos!"

"I wonder if they _are_ a Team as we think of them," Kira said quietly. "They seem more like a civilian or guerrilla outfit than a true military one. It's pretty clear they're all used to acting independently at least part of the time."

"Turn your sound up!" Dearka suddenly called. "Something's breaking!"

Kira's hand went instantly to the volume control as he cursed his mistake in turning it down in the first place. " . . . . see if someone's found one."

"Duo! What are you going to do?" The Asian sounded alarmed.

"Say hello!" He was going to do what?

Abruptly the bat-winged suit moved forward. It only took six steps before it stopped though. Then those wings popped open, revealing a truly sinister looking mobile suit.

That evil looking suit suddenly waved at them as a cheerful voice announced clearly, "Hi! Name's Duo Maxwell. I may run and I may hide but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell. So, who're you guys?"

Dearka snickered, and then broke down laughing. Yzak's face was a study in shock, horror, and affront. Kira could only grin. When several seconds went by and neither of the other two recovered, he decided to respond for them. He walked Strike-Freedom the same six steps forward, waved back and turned on the outgoing comm line.

"Hello, I'm Kira, Kira Yamato. Sorry, I don't have any fast thumbnail descriptions to offer."

"It worked?" The Asian sounded so much like Yzak it was all Kira could do not to laugh.

"Not everything the baka does fails."

Duo had a wonderfully insulted look on his face. "Love ya too Hee-chan! And yeah, it worked! So shut it Wuffie."

He turned back to the amused Coordinator. "Sorry about that. Some of the guys have some misconceptions about how I get shit done."

"So I see," Kira grinned at him. He couldn't help it. This Duo Maxwell was just someone he responded to very positively.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how this is supposed to work but I know one of your guys is not a hundred percent and I kinda doubt you all wanna stand out here for however many days it takes your gang to get back here. Since I'm sure you got a bazillion questions, you wanna come on in with us and we can all talk about it someplace more comfortable than a mobile suit cockpit?"

"This is first alien contact?" Yzak sounded almost as insulted as the Asian had.

"Apparently it is," Kira agreed cheerfully. "I know it isn't up to your standards but we have been invited in. So, Commander Joule, are we sitting out here while your head and shoulder give you hell or are we going somewhere where we can treat them?"

"Showers?" Dearka enquired quietly.

"Yeah, sure," Duo grinned. "One per room and we got a whole corridor's worth of space that we're not using."

He cocked his head at Kira. "How come you gotta ask the grouch?"

"The ZAFT is a military organization," Kira pointed out with a small smile. "And Yzak Joule is my commanding officer."

"Then how come . . . . ."

"MAXWELL!!" Two voices yelped, one shocked, the other angry.

Duo stared, obviously puzzled. "What?"

"I think the question you were about to ask probably wouldn't have been politically wise." Kira just shook his head. "It's something we can go into later anyway. No matter what Yzak wants, I'd like to get him somewhere where we can do a proper assessment of his injuries"

"Fine Yamato, we'll go." Joule agreed without the arguments he'd usually have put up. But Kira had been watching him closely and had already seen how much he was fighting to control his pain. Naturally pale, he was almost ghost white now.

"Thank you." The blond inclined his head with a regal diplomacy that reminded Kira of Lacus at her most formal. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner by the way and my machine is called Sandrock. Duo's is Deathscythe Hell. Chang Wu Fei pilots the Altron. Trowa Barton has Heavyarms. You've already seen Heero Yuy's Wing Zero at work."

"Commander Kira Yamato, Deputy Commander of FAITH, ZAFT, piloting Strike-Freedom." Kira responded with a much more formal introduction now. "My commanding officer, Commander Yzak Joule, Commander of FAITH, ZAFT, piloting the Command Duel. His Wing, Dearka Elsman, piloting Blitz-Ranger."

"You guys got a rank besides 'Commander'?" Duo asked, curious.

"Several," Kira replied calmly. "But the ZAFT is more a militia than a standing army and the list of rank titles is very limited."

"We have control of the cameras in this section, its safe to move openly right now." Quatre cut in gently. "Would you please follow me?"

They led the three Coordinators almost half way around the colony. Kira was watching closely, very aware of where they were relative to the interior structure of the place. And he wasn't real pleased when they drifted to a stop above a tangled mass of wreckage that once might have been a private shuttle port. How had these people picked _this_ place? Then, to his shock, the snarled mess lifted smoothly out until there was more than enough room for even Strike-Freedom's broad shoulders to slip inside.

A single light illuminated a very large outer docking port, leaving many shadows but doing a good enough job to allow them to get eight large mobile suits into the space safely. From the inside, it was easy to see that the outer hatch was in excellent repair. So, all that junk on it was a disguise. Kira had looked on their way in and he knew the visitors hadn't set this up themselves.

Weathering in space took time and the surfaces up there showed enough of it to have been there for decades. This bay had been hidden long before the aliens had found it. He wondered if concealing it had been his bio-father's idea. He suddenly realized he'd probably been here before, as a days-old child being taken secretly to safety with Cagalli just before Blue Cosmos had destroyed this colony to crush G.A.R.M. and Dr. Hibiki's research. It gave him a very weird feeling that lasted until the heavy main doors opened onto a very large interior bay ablaze with light that recalled him to the needs of the present over the past.

It looked like this had been a maintenance bay once, one set up for the heaviest of the colony-building mobile suits. He wondered if G.A.R.M. had run the bay or just appropriated it later. In any case, there were suit racks here that would support Yzak and Dearka's suits, flight packs and all. Sandrock was already moving to show them which bays to use. Wing Zero had immediately stowed that spectacular rifle and was beginning to reset a third bay to accommodate the unusual breadth of Strike-Freedom and the extra depth the DRAGOON system wing mounts gave the suit. Familiar with how these bays worked, Kira moved over to give him a hand.

It took perhaps fifteen more minutes to get all the mobile suits set into the various racks. The three from ZAFT did not bother hooking their units to the colony's maintenance system. It was too outdated to manage to do anything but cause problems if it attempted to work on their suits. By that time the hanger was fully pressurized again and it was safe to leave the cockpit without a helmet.

Before they moved though, Kira had one last suggestion. "Guys, I'm thinking we probably should leave our sidearms in our suit lockers. They aren't really going to do us that much good if things go bad and not having them may keep anyone else from doing something stupid out of fright. I don't think these pilots are nervous types but I also don't think they're the only ones here either."

"That makes sense to me," Yzak agreed wearily. "What do you think Dearka?"

"Fine with me." Elsman was already shoving his into the secure lockbox that sat under the right hand side of the main front panels. "What about our helmets?"

"I think we can leave those in the suits too." Yzak frowned thoughtfully. "We'd only need them if there was another fight and we'd probably be out in the middle of that anyway."

"Roger that," Dearka agreed. "Say, Kira, you got a standard aid kit or one of the big ones in that monster of yours?"

"Big one and yes I'll bring it." He been busy working it out of the somewhat cramped corner it was stored in even before Dearka had asked.

"Ah," Elsman suddenly sounded very unsure. "Just thought of something. We don't catch Natural's diseases but what about aliens?"

"I'd doubt it," Kira replied as he finally managed to get the large box out of the corner and the hatch cover closed again. "Besides, it's a bit late to worry about that now. We've already agreed to this."

"I think Yamato's right." Yzak sounded both irritable and in some pain now. "Let's just get this meeting part over. I want to look through that kit of his for a couple pills."

Kira picked up the med-kit and opened his hatch. As he did, he realized he was really taking this quite well. It was almost as though he met people from alien universes every other week. He wondered how things would go when whatever protective shock he was operating under finally wore off.

Strike-Freedom was in the fourth bay, chosen to allow the space to close in some of the third to make room for the unusual breadth of his mobile suit. So he was furthest from the cluster of five young men waiting by the end of the gantry. It gave him a fair chance to look them over without appearing too rudely obvious about it.

The very first thing that hit him was how short they were. Of the five of them, only one looked like he might be taller than Kira himself and that was a real maybe. The Asian was quite close to his height and the other three were noticeably smaller. The pilot of Wing Zero was outright _petite_, a word he'd never associated with a male before in his life, and Deathscythe's wasn't much bigger. As he got a bit closer, he realized the two of them and blond Quatre were very lightly built and that was contributing a lot to the impression of almost delicacy. He didn't for a second believe they were. No one who could pilot mobile suits like theirs was _delicate_!

Hair was the second impression when you saw them as a group. Duo had an insanely long braid, it was difficult to be sure the man was in motion so much, but it looked like it was tied off about mid thigh. It would probably make it close to mid calf unbraided. Heero's pony tail, and did he wear it that high on his head to add some impression of height Kira wondered, fell almost to his waist when he turned once to answer someone's question. The tall one, Trowa, had what looked like a fairly normal haircut across the back of his head and then this great fall of hair that went to one side of his face, hiding one eye. That definitely wasn't normal on Earth or the PLANTs. Only Chang and Quatre fell inside that range. Chang because his tightly drawn back hair was only about shoulder blade long and Quatre because his was about as long really as Kira's own.

The third thing that struck Kira was that this was a conspicuously handsome group. Beauty among Coordinators now was largely by design and once you were used to it, you could often see at least some of the artificialness of it. But there was no sign of any such tampering in any of these five. So the people from wherever they were from had something of the same kind of range Naturals here did if the weird old man and these guys were anything to go by. Then he reached Yzak and Dearka and his attention was abruptly refocused on his own team; most specifically on Yzak and the pain he could no longer control well enough to keep it off his face.

-------------------------

"Shit, they're tall!" Duo exclaimed in an excited whisper. "Wonder if that's why their suits are so much larger than ours, 'cause they need the space for a bigger cockpit?"

"I would doubt it," Quatre replied soothingly in a vain attempt to calm the over stimulated American down. "It simply appears to be one of many design differences."

"Hey Q-man, did ya see how the lights shook a bit when they walked in? Man, they gotta weigh at least two or three times what our suits do! And why did they suddenly turn gray?" Duo was talking a mile a minute, eyes brilliant with his anticipation. "Did ya notice they're all set up for ranged combat? Wonder what their mobile dolls are armed with if manned suits all gotta have beam rifles! Do ya think we'll get to look inside? I'll see if I can set up a trade; I'll let one of 'em peak at 'Scythe if he'll let me look around his suit. Wonder if Yamato would go for it? I'd really like a close up of that suit! Damn! They're our age too! And whoa, he's got purple eyes! They design themselves right, Coordinators do that? Why would someone design their kid to have white hair?"

"Duo!" Heero snapped sharply although he kept the volume well down. "Shut up! Just let them come to us and we can ask the questions one at a time. AND we will wait for answers before asking another one!"

"Hee-chan!"

"You're babbling," Heero told him bluntly. "Stop it before you say something you don't want to. The only times I've ever known you to give something away were when you were this excited and wouldn't shut up."

Duo stared at him in shock. "When did I ever give something away?"

"Two different safehouses," Heero reminded him grimly. "At two different basketball games. Now shut it."

"Did not!"

"Did so," Wu Fei told him flatly. "I lost three good shirts and my spare gei when we had to cut out without time to fully pack in Norway. Close your mouth or I'll find something to stuff in it."

"Oh," Duo was suddenly a lot quieter. "Yeah, I remember that one."

"Oh we all remember that one," Trowa assured him coolly. "What ever possessed you to tell that Ozzie you could fly a mobile suit anyway?"

"He was being a superior jackass," Duo admitted. "It rubbed me the wrong way at the wrong time. He was a fuckin' Leo pilot fer God's sake! And he was tellin' me how great he was! Me! Shinigami! I just lost track of where I was for a second, that's all."

"Right," Heero agreed with a sharp nod. "Now don't make that mistake here."

Duo gave him a rather curious look. "'Ro, just what do ya think I could give away here?"

"Since I don't know how much, if anything, they know, I suppose a great deal if you were really careless."

"You're from another space-time and one of your people stole six null-jammer cancellers, presumably for use in your mobile suits." Yzak Joule told them icily. "We're not deaf."

Heero turned sharply. Kira Yamato was standing, bandages in one hand, a blue shirt in the other, with his eyes closed, an expression of complete exasperation on his face. Dearka Elsman didn't even pause in his careful winding of another bandage across Joule's chest and across his left shoulder. Joule's pressure suit was now open and off to the waist. The pattern of bandaging told the experienced group that Joule probably had broken, or at least cracked the collar bone on that side.

"You learned diplomacy where Yzak?" Yamato muttered just loud enough for Heero's sharp ears to catch it. "Your Mom would box your ears for that one and you know it."

"She'd do worse than that." Elsman assured the other Coordinator drily. "Ezaria Joule isn't one to tolerate that kind of mistake from him at all."

"We probably shouldn't assume they're deaf either," Kira added, eyeing the watchful Heero thoughtfully.

"They aren't Coordinators, Kira." Dearka protested quietly.

"We don't know they aren't their world's equivalent," Yamato noted. "I'll bet they know a lot more about us than we'd like to think they do too. They understand our language after all. If they've done nothing more than watch the news and educational channels for a couple weeks they'll have at least a sketchy idea of how things stand here now. We on the other hand, know nothing of the pressures that drove them to come here."

"Good point."

Yes it was, Heero agreed silently. And it said some interesting things about how quickly this Kira Yamato thought on his feet that he'd pull that out this quickly. Yuy knew he was more than a bit disoriented just meeting these people, genuine aliens straight out of fiction for all they looked and sounded so much like normal people. And they had to be somewhat unsettled too.

The five of them sat back to wait for their guests to be ready. It really didn't take them very long. Once Elsman finished, he helped Joule back into the blue shirt and they got the pressure suit closed again while Yamato put the medical kit back in his mobile suit. Joule swallowed some medicine they'd pulled out of the kit before Kira'd taken it and washed it down with a small bottle of liquid from the same source. Dearka got the left arm rigged into a sling that helped take some more pressure off the damaged clavicle. By that time, Yamato was back and the three locals exchanged glances just once before they started up the gantry, Joule slightly in the lead.

They stopped when there was perhaps two meters left between their groups. Joule took one more step forward when Yamato spun around. Elsman instantly turned to his own right, dropping into a slight crouch similar to the one Kira was in. Joule was looking at them with arctic blue eyes.

"Who just came in behind us?" The Coordinator asked flatly.

Heero took two open steps to his right to look past Elsman. He knew where the concealed door that led into the corridor behind the bay was so he focused there even though it was one hell of a long way down there to have heard something that quiet open. But when he saw a small movement he knew their hearing was even better than he'd suspected it might be.

"Mariemaia," Heero snapped, "does Zechs know you snuck out?"

The child made hushing motions at him. He scowled at her. She should have known better!

"They heard you! Come out here before someone decides you're a danger!" Heero ordered sharply.

"Yamato?" Joule enquired coldly.

He was answered with a light laugh. "It's a kid. Someone has too much curiosity."

Yzak's eyes went wide in shock. "You brought _children_ with you?"

"Just one," Quatre sighed. "We didn't have a choice about it. Crimson Dawn wants her dead as much or more than it wants to kill the five of us and Relena. With the right help, she could be as great a danger to them as we could."

"So I guessed right," Kira said quietly. "You're here to escape some political disaster."

"She's a cute kid." Dearka observed calmly as he straightened.

Heero just shook his head as she marched around the three guests to stand beside Quatre.

"I am Mariemaia Khushrenada-Une," she announced proudly, and then seemed a bit put out when the three of them simply smiled politely, clearly completely unaware of what her name should mean.

"The flow of information has all gone one way Mariemaia." Zechs' voice suddenly came from the speaker over the door. "They have no idea who you are or why Crimson Dawn wants any one dead. They don't know who or what Crimson Dawn is for that matter. Commander Yamato is correct though, we are here to escape a political disaster until the situation changes enough to make it useful for us to return. Quatre, please bring our guests in to the lounge. We've done enough analysis of what we've found here to be sure what we have to offer is safe for them."

"Of course," Quatre agreed and caught Mariemaia by the arm. "Will you follow us please?"

"You have a commanding officer then?" Yzak enquired dryly.

"Nah, not really," Duo denied instantly. "Well, I guess maybe technically he _could_ be. I think Une pulled a fast one and officially has us back on active duty with the Preventers. But that doesn't mean we're in his chain of command ya understand! The idea of being under Zech Merquise's command is just too weird to think about!"

"Why?" Kira asked with friendly curiosity.

"Would you wanna find your old nemesis from the war _your_ commander?" Duo asked as he flounced through the hatch behind Quatre.

Kira and Yzak could only stare at each other, eyebrows arched. Then Dearka burst into laughter. The two of them grinned, then they were laughing as well. Heero eyed them both warily, trying to remember why this would be such a hysterically funny suggestion to this pair. Then a few facts from the history lesson surfaced and his own eyes widened fractionally. Oh, yes, Duo didn't know it but he'd just made a real big joke there. He followed the still chortling Coordinators through the hatch and secured it behind him.

Maxwell was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "What's so funny?"

The three of them just shook their heads at him but Heero paused and gave him a long look. "Bloody Valentine War, remember your lessons there?"

"Some of 'em, sure. Why?"

"Who was on which side?"

Heero moved quickly to catch up with the group, leaving Duo to trail in after them, lost in thought as he tried to recall the data.

---------------------------

Kira followed Yzak and Dearka through the generous door into what Heero Yuy had called the lounge. He glanced around quickly, taking it in with one brief scouting look. A large space, it was perhaps eight meters by ten and boasted two separate sitting areas, one large and one small, with comfortable looking chairs and small tables as well as three others with much larger tables clearly set up for either casual dining or gaming. But it was the people waiting there in the larger sitting area who arrested his attention.

Like the five pilots and the child, they were handsome people. One man, three women, they seemed to be no older than mid twenties and no younger than early twenties. He wondered about that, none of them appeared old enough to be the child's parents.

The two younger women looked to be about his age, both of them strikingly attractive in quite different ways. Both women were impeccably dressed in what his now-experienced eye recognized as very high quality civilian clothing. The taller one had the longest blond hair he'd ever seen, even among the show-off wealthy PLANT daughters. She had very odd eyebrows as well, deeply forked and quite dark for her coloring. There was something sly about her, she would have to be watched and not trusted.

The other was more conventionally beautiful with blue eyes and honey blond hair. She also had an air about her that unmistakably reminded him of Lacus. Whoever she was, she'd been in a position of considerable power once and she understood its responsibilities. She was someone significant; he was going to need to learn everything he could about her.

The older pair on the other hand wore unmistakable uniforms. The woman had black hair with a bluish cast and deep blue eyes. In any other company she would undoubtedly catch every man's eye. Here though it was her commanding officer who arrested the attention.

This Zech Merquise was taller than Dearka, with long pale blond bangs that fell across intense ice blue eyes. Standing like this, it wasn't possible to judge the length in back but Kira was quite sure it fell well below the shoulder blades simply because it had enough weight to it to hang so smoothly. The uniform fit him flawlessly and truly flattered him as uniforms rarely did. But it was none of that that had Kira's attention.

This man was a soldier. And he was at very least a born leader if not actually born royalty. Kira had met a good number of the noble-born now and he could recognize it when he saw it. Merquise had been born to wealth and influence and had used both effectively. It was unusual for male children of such families to choose the military. He wondered if he was a fourth or fifth son to even be allowed to.

There was an unmistakable air of competence here too. This officer knew his job and had complete confidence in his ability to execute his orders. If he and Maxwell had been on opposite sides during their war, it spoke rather well of Maxwell that he was still alive. Actually, Kira realized, he was going to have to take a long second look at that very likeable but apparently scatterbrained chatterbox. You didn't survive going against someone like this by being the, ah, somewhat limited individual Maxwell _seemed_ to be.

The first comparison Kira could find for Merquise was Admiral Halliburton. He was quite sure Merquise had also led troops with compassion and deadly effectiveness. However, unlike the Admiral, Kira had the feeling this officer would be a dangerous opponent in his own right. He resembled Andy Waltfeld or Mu that way. And anyone who could combine those characteristics was a man worth watching.

He was watching them right now with a level gaze that gave nothing away. There was no feeling of hostility from him at all. Neither was there any impression of excessive welcome that might indicate a more delicately balanced situation than they should be getting in to. In fact, none of these people gave him that feeling, which he admitted privately, was a relief. Yzak was as politically savvy as they came but he was injured and in pain right now, both of which had been known to cut into his self-control and so into his political skills.

It was an automatic and natural move to find himself saluting Merquise right along with Yzak and Dearka. And Merquise returned the gesture just as automatically. Oh, yes, the man was a career soldier all right.

"I am Commander Yzak Joule of the ZAFT. I will be very direct as I really don't feel like wasting a lot of time playing games. Who are you people and why are you here?"

Well, that was fairly undiplomatic but at least it wasn't absolutely rude. And it would, if they chose to answer, as he'd said, cut out a lot of the usually wasted time and verbiage. Kira watched more than just Merquise for a response. To his complete surprise, it didn't come from the soldier.

"I am Relena Peacecraft Dorlian," the young woman with the honey hair replied gently. "We are here because our home has been overrun by a quite ruthless enemy who is systematically murdering everyone they deem dangerous to them. All of us here fall in that category. There was no place in our home space where we could hide the mobile suits and ourselves so we accepted the risk of coming to this space for what we hope will be a very brief time. We do not intend to intrude on your affairs and would not have allowed you to know we were here if those people had not threatened the colony, and so ourselves."

"And you had that old man steal null-jammer cancellers from us why?" Yzak demanded coldly.

"I'm afraid Professor G did that without consulting with anyone here. He and Doctor J rebuilt the Gundams in complete secrecy and discovered how to reach this space-time without telling anyone of their actions." Relena simply shook her head. "They have always operated in this manner so no one was surprised by that. I understood they committed the theft because without those units, our machines would be in serious danger of malfunction here."

"Gundams?" Yzak asked, "You call those suits Gundams?"

"Yes, it is because they're made of gundanium."

"We can discuss materials later perhaps," Merquise suddenly cut in. "I believe formal introductions and a bit of our history would be more helpful to our guests right now. Commander Joule would probably also be more comfortable sitting than standing as well."

They made a good team, Merquise and the Dorlian girl. Between them, everyone ended up seated and served tea and small cakes. They assured their guests they were safe to eat but Kira politely declined and noted the others did as well. Some chances weren't worth it. They weren't wasted though as Duo Maxwell seemed to be quite capable of devouring the entire plate by himself. Yuy and Chang though both made sure he didn't get more than four of them. He wondered why.

Colonel Merquise took over the discussion at that point. Kira learned the lady in uniform was Major Noin-Merquise, the Colonel's wife and the girl with the odd eyebrows was Dorothy Catalonia, a political hot potato of some kind who was related to both the child and two different and now late would-be leaders of the world from their last war. At some point the information dropped that Zechs and Relena were brother and sister as well. All five of the mobile suit pilots turned out to hold the rank of Captain in this 'Preventer' group. The child it seemed was the adopted daughter of the Preventer commander, a General Une, who had sent her with these people for her safety.

As he listened and watched, Kira began to sort some things out. The five pilots were a loose Team of some kind. They'd all fought on the same side in that war while the Colonel had been a major figure on the other side. He was a professional soldier, obviously formally trained and almost certainly the graduate of a military academy. They just as clearly weren't. They'd been guerillas at best, possible terrorists at worst. But they'd won the fight and they hadn't done it from the shadows.

The climactic battle Merquise described reminded him of both Second Jachin Due and of Requiem. All three fights had involved vast numbers of men and mobile suits but had come down in the end to a few key people in a handful of key locations doing what had to be done. Libra, like Second Jachin Due, had also been a three-sided fight as well. The Requiem battle, for all there were only two declared 'sides' had probably had at least four different agendas attached to it.

As Merquise went over that battle, Kira kept a surreptitious eye on the five pilots. Yuy was impossible to read, a stiffly frozen figure who sat rigidly in his chair. But the other four told him things. And what they told him gave him some hints on Yuy as well.

It surprised him to realize Quatre Winner really was the team commander in combat. He didn't seem have the personality for it at all. But Merquise made it quite clear he had the tactical mind for it and both the courage and the skill to use it. If he wasn't an aggressive fighter, he was an able one when he had to be. Sandrock would be a machine to be very careful of in close quarters.

The Heavyarms pilot, Trowa Barton, was a one-man demolition team. The suit was every bit as heavily weaponed as Yzak had thought it might be and Barton apparently was a serious expert in getting the most out of that. Kira shuddered inwardly at the thought of how much damage a machine with that kind of firepower could cause. And yet, it too was not really set up for more than mid-range combat at best and would be most effective at fairly close range.

The Altron was similar, set up for mid-close and close combat. The pilot though was different. Wu Fei Chang had issues. Kira wasn't sure what they all were but justice in many forms was a big one. His own self-perceived weaknesses were another. Apparently he was much improved, mental health wise, over how he'd been during the war and in the year or so after. If this was much improved, he was kinda glad he hadn't met that younger Chang. Still, he was clearly a very formidable man in a fight and that suit wasn't one you'd want to take on without some careful thought beforehand either.

In some ways, Deathscythe Hell reminded Kira of the Forbidden. Most specifically, in the fact that it used a scythe weapon. However, with this suit, it was the principal weapon. And it sounded like Maxwell was an expert with it. It seemed rather out of character for the cheerful young man until he glanced over and caught someone very different looking out of those blue-violet eyes for a second.

Kira did an instant and abrupt revision on his assessment of one Duo Maxwell. There were depths here he hadn't expected and instinctively knew he probably didn't want to get into. The bright, cheery chatterbox was quite real. But so was the ice-blooded killer he'd just seen looking out of those same eyes. This man was probably the most dangerous of the five of them, simply because he was the one who would make the biggest switch in personality. Anyone who took Maxwell the friendly-but-over-talkative at face value was in deathly serious trouble when that other side came out to play.

Heero Yuy and his Wing Zero were the group's only serious long range threat but they were an awesome one. He'd already had the chance to look over what that buster rifle could do. He wasn't sure what the beam it fired actually was but it functioned like a disruptor of some kind, reducing whatever it touched to plasma. In some ways it didn't matter if it excited the atoms until they ripped apart or just broke their internal bonds instantly. The result was solid matter shifted into energy for a very long way out from the muzzle of that weapon. And as Merquise's tale of the Libra battle made quite clear, it would convert a lot of mass on one shot. Somehow, Kira didn't think Phase Shift Armor would be real effective against it either.

From a few other remarks the Major made and some flippant answers from Maxwell, Kira also gathered the five of them had been as much an infiltration and demolitions team as they were mobile suit pilots. This in fact seemed to be what their current enemies, this 'Crimson Dawn' group wanted to eliminate them for. Miss Dorlian had said something about the Gundams being rebuilt but it wasn't until fairly late into the discussion/lecture on the other space-time's history that he realized they'd outright destroyed their armaments at the end of their latest conflict in the unrealistic hope of preventing all future wars. It was all he could do not to shake his head at that bit of stupidity, especially when Miss Dorlian admitted it was her idea.

"Begging your pardon, Ma'am," Dearka said bluntly. "But that's probably the dumbest idea I've ever heard. You really blew up your mobile suits and thought you'd stop all wars? Whatever gave you a nutso idea like that?"

"Elsman!" Yzak snapped.

"No," Relena raised a quiet hand, "he's correct as it turned out. But as to where I got it, it was my Father's cherished goal. Total Pacifism was a cause my Father espoused at the cost of his own life. I suppose that alone should have taught me something. It is going to take a lot longer that a year or two to achieve it and we will have to have true justice for all our people and an honest means of allowing the varied groups to settle their differences in place before we can try it again. Neither of those will happen overnight."

"It's something worth trying for though."

Kira thought of Lacus and the children of the orphanage. How much better would those young lives have been if there had been no war to take their families from them? How much happier would his own soul be if he'd never had to take someone's life? Those questions had no answers; at least not in this reality.

"Thank you, Commander," Relena said gently. "It is unusual to find military people who understand the value of becoming obsolete."

Kira shook his head. "The need to protect is always going to be there Miss Dorlian. It can be scaled back but it can't be completely eliminated. As long as you are dealing with human beings and not with angels there will be some who are evil, some who are greedy, some who are cruel, and some who are just selfishly misguided. There will be others who are weak. They will follow the stronger either for gain or in hopes of avoiding being the ones hurt. The ambitious individuals will do things that endanger or outright injure others around them and they will have to be stopped. You may hope to reduce the need to your 'Preventers' instead of needing armies but you'll never be rid of it altogether. The true protector will never be obsolete."

She gave him a very serious look. "How would you recognize a protector, Commander? How do you tell such a person from someone who just thrives on violence?"

He could feel the bitterness twisting his lips. "It isn't hard. A protector doesn't really want the job, Miss Dorlian. He or she does it because they have to. Because it must _be_ done. And they do it because they have the skills of mind and heart to do it properly. They do it so others, more innocent, never have to."

He looked away. "You can never go back to what you once were after you've killed another person. No one who you could consider a protector wants to see anyone else have to lose that part of their soul like they did. If you are dealing with someone who doesn't care, they aren't any kind of protector at all."

"I see. How do you cope with this, Commander?"

"By considering just what would happen to those I care about if I refused the job." Kira told her honestly. "Understand please, I got into this whole thing in the first place by just trying to protect my friends. I was a tech school student, sixteen, living on a neutral space colony when the war exploded in my face one day. I was working on a school project one minute, running for shelter from a mobile suit attack the next, and then piloting a mobile suit to keep others from killing my friends, all in the space of maybe half an hour!"

He sighed. "I turned out to have a natural talent for it."

"Oh now there's a serious understatement if I ever heard one!" Dearka said feelingly. "Natural talent doesn't even begin to touch it Yamato! You topple into the Strike and in under an hour, with NO TRAINING on the thing you're fending off pilots with both training _and_ months of combat experience! Mir told me you rewrote Strike's initial OS in the middle of that very first fight because you couldn't make the machine work until you did! You got any idea how few people there are around who could have even _considered_ doing something like that?"

"I didn't _plan_ it Dearka!" Kira protested. "I had no choice!"

Duo leaned forward. "Lemme get this straight. You jumped into the cockpit of a strange mobile suit, rewrote the OS, and fought your first battle, all at the same time, with no training at all?!?"

Kira glared at him. "First off, I didn't jump in, I was pushed in by Lieutenant Ramius all right? And I was in school to become a computer engineer in the first place, programming was my specialty! So the rewrite was no big deal, I just modified what was already there. But that last, yes, I fought that battle without any training. Lieutenant Ramius was perched sorta behind me and helped me find the right controls when I needed them."

"Why did this Lieutenant Ramius allow you to pilot at all?" Wu Fei gave him a deeply disapproving stare. "You were a civilian I take it. He was the soldier. He should never have pushed you into the mobile suit in the first place. What kind of coward then demands the civilian fight his battle?"

"To begin with, it's Murrue Ramius and she's a lady!" Kira growled. "She shoved me into the Strike because we were in a warehouse that was about to blow up and the cockpit was the only safe place around. The initial OS was total crap! No one could have operated a kid's toy with it let alone a war machine! I had to have the pilot's seat in order to get to the keyboard efficiently to do the rewrite. And by the time I was done, well, she's a Natural and no Natural could have handled the Strike with the way I rewrote the program. I stuck myself with having to be the pilot by writing her out of the job."

He stared straight into Wu Fei's eyes. "Just so you know, she's now Captain Ramius-La Flaga, commanding officer of the _Archangel_. And I don't ever want to hear anyone put the word coward and her name in the same sentence again, thank you very much."

To his complete surprise, the Asian pilot stood and bowed deeply, the gesture unmistakably an apology. "I spoke without knowledge. I will not do so again."

Kira stood up and returned the gesture, knowing he needed to. "I shouldn't have yelled. You aren't from here; there is no way you could have known. If the situation had been as you imagined, you would have been correct to reprimand the soldier."

"You are loyal to your friends," Colonel Merquise remarked.

"He's legendary for it." Yzak assured him. "His loyalty is almost as famous as his skill as a pilot. Just don't ever betray him. Luck has a nasty habit of deserting people who do that."

"YZAK!"

"It does though," Joule said quietly. "It makes me wonder sometimes if Ito wasn't telling us the literal truth that day in the cafeteria."

Kira's eyebrows rose. "You've seen Wolverine then?"

"No," Yzak gave him a very dark look. "But then that isn't the part of the conversation I'm talking about."

Kira closed his jaw with an audible snap and sat down. He was not going to discuss that with anyone, including Yzak. It had no bearing on this situation anyway.

"It is getting late by colony time," Relena suddenly put in. "As far as we can tell, it will be at least another thirty seven hours before the first ships will get here. We have set up rooms for you on the corridor we aren't using. We weren't sure if you would want to share one room or each have a room to yourselves so we have prepared three and you may choose for yourselves how you wish to do things."

"Thank you, Miss Dorlian." Yzak gave her a small incline of his head.

"Quatre, will you show our guests their rooms?"

"Of course, Miss Relena." The blond bounced up and they stood, saluted Colonel Marquise, and followed him. The place was very simply laid out. Quatre pointed out the pilot's wing, theirs and the one the Colonel and the ladies had. And then he did them the courtesy of leaving them alone.

"How do you want to handle this Yzak?" Kira asked.

"Lets check out the rooms first and we can decide from there. We're going to have to send someone back to the bay to get our things from the lockers anyway."

Kira nodded and promptly opened the closest door. It proved to be a small suite with a sitting room, sleeping room and rather well appointed bath. It was a rather nice set of accommodations. But it wasn't one he could trust.

He moved to the common wall between this sitting room and the suite next door. This place had belonged to G.A.R.M. and they'd had a nasty tendency to make places accessible to themselves that the occupants thought they'd securely locked up. So he wasn't surprised to find a well hidden door about half way down the wall. He popped it open and found himself smiling at Dearka's shocked face.

"What the . . . ?"

"Do you know where we are in the colony?" Kira asked quietly.

Yzak, sitting in the most comfortable looking chair in the room, didn't need a second hint. "Don't tell me, we're directly below G.A.R.M."

When Kira nodded, they both nearly spit.

"I wonder if our hosts have any idea where they are." Dearka eyed the formerly hidden door thoughtfully

"I would doubt it," Yzak said slowly. "Even if they've been in the colony's computer system, and I would be shocked if they haven't, all it would tell them was that the place was a research facility and assisted in development of techniques used to do the genetic splicing needed to produce stable Coordinator children."

A very faint whisper of sound caught Kira's ear and he turned to find Duo Maxwell just inside the hallway door, eyeing the new door in the wall with clear interest. The sound he'd heard had probably come when the other had let his shoulder lean into the wall by the door. It somewhat concerned Kira that he hadn't heard him before that. The other pilot was damn light on his feet.

"Now that's something I've not seen in any of these rooms before." Maxwell remarked brightly.

"You should take a closer look," Kira decided to be up front here and see what information he could jar loose in return. "This site belonged to a research facility once. They had a very respectable front and were corrupt as ancient sin behind it. There is very little here that you should take at face value. They worked in human genetics and they had no morals when it came to where or how they got the ones they wanted. Have you found a door into the facility proper yet?"

"Oh yeah," Maxwell nodded grimly. "Nobody wants to go there though. Real bad feelings in that place. Poor Q-bean passed out right in the doorway it was so nasty. Not even Heero's been willin' to go in there and he's as immune to that shit as we get."

The Deathscythe pilot gave the new door another long look. "I'll do some checkin' around again. Wouldn't want any surprises now."

"That's not a bad idea," Kira told him soberly. "Just be careful of what you find. Mendel Colony was dedicated to genetic research in many forms and G.A.R.M. wasn't the only place respectable on the outside and rotted on the in. I wouldn't touch any bottles or test tubes if I were you. And I definitely would back out fast if I found one of the old embryo storage facilities."

"Whoa, musta been a real charmin' place in its heyday!" The sarcasm was heavy in the voice. "Ya really know how to kill a guy's sense of adventure and exploration."

"Of all the places in this space-time you could explore, this is the last one I'd recommend," Kira told him with bitter honesty.

"Riiiiiight," Duo drawled. "I think maybe we should find something else to talk about."

"That would be fine with me. Did you have something in mind?"

"Actually, yeah, I did." All humor was suddenly gone from the other man's face. "There's something you three need to know a bit about since it seems you're gonna be sharing a common wall with us."

Long before Maxwell was finished all three of them were almost sick to their stomachs. One did not _do_ things like this to people! Then Kira gave a few seconds consideration to just where they were standing and the ironic correctness of it all just made him want to bang his head on the wall. They managed to thank him for his warning though and then Kira and Dearka went back to the bay together to get everything they were going to need in one trip.

They ate ration bars from the mobile suit's stores, bathed and went to bed, leaving the door between the rooms open. Kira found sleep elusive though. The sound effects Duo had had the courtesy to warn them about were actually quite muted, indicating the soundproofing was of rather good quality. Only once did he hear anything at all clearly. He would, though, have laid reasonable money on the voice screaming Heero Yuy's name being Duo Maxwell's.


	19. Chapter 19

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 19 Aftermath

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

* * *

Albert Hannam watched the broadcast from Mendel for the sixth time, trying to see what had gone so completely wrong. Yes, he'd intended to have the pirate's ranks thinned in this fight, they were getting too demanding and were too strong to outright refuse. But this? No, this was far more than he'd intended. He needed _some_ of them alive a while longer to do the majority of the fighting for Blue Cosmos while it rebuilt in the shadows.

"Are the damned monster and his fucking mobile suit both _coated_ with luck?" Crystal snarled as she glared at the large screen where they were going over the battle almost frame by frame. "Good God! Did you see that? How close can you come and still miss the bastard? That shot was fired from less than two hundred meters! And it didn't even scratch the paint!"

"I saw it," Hannam replied tonelessly.

"You could be a little concerned here you know. We stand to lose everything to this monstrosity!"

"There were reasons for the destruction of Mendel Colony," he reminded the angry woman when she rounded on him. "He was the primary target there as well if you will recall. And they missed that time too. Kira Yamato is the final product of Hibiki's unholy Ultimate Coordinator project. It is our intense misfortune that the project was an outstanding success. He isn't your standard lab freak, Crystal. Quit trying to blame the pirates as if he was. We sent so many mobile suits in the first place because we knew he was going to be very, very difficult to kill."

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I must admit though, I hadn't anticipated this much destruction or that much stupidity once they were on site. I was sure they'd notice how all their guns were lining up and that most would move fast and far enough to manage to survive. But no, they got so caught up in their individual battles they paid no attention to the overall fight. I know we need the men and ships but I have to wonder if they didn't do us a favor by killing themselves. That kind of stupidity factor is _not_ something we can afford in this war."

She growled wordlessly and stamped off to the bar to fix herself a drink and answer the phone that rang just as she got there. He ignored the temper, she had a right to be angry considering just what this fiasco had cost in terms of their own supply levels and tight fuel stocks. Then, to add insult to mortal injury, that erratic mess of a mainframe on Mendel had picked that moment to hiccup and dump the entire show onto the emergency network, where everyone and his blind dog got to see what really happened!

Now that ZAFT battleship - what was it called, the _Irwin_? - at any rate now it and its lost crew were being hailed as heroes all across the planet! Even the most rabid of Alliance networks recognized that the ZAFT ship and her people had stood their ground and had covered as much as they possibly could of the mistakes in judgment so evident in the _Jan Smits_ and her flotilla. And Commanders Yamato and Joule were now the subjects of a massive search and rescue operation.

Worse, the PLANTs had acknowledged they had a pair of mobile suits with Mirage Colloid capability and, because the one had been part of the gallant but impossible defense of the _Smits_, it was politically impossible to go after them about it. Both suits apparently had actually been built during the First Bloody Valentine War but not completed by the end of it. So even though they kept them, the PLANTs did not violate the Junius Treaty by having them since they weren't operational at any point when the Treaty could honestly be considered to be in effect. Nor did they count as new construction now since they had only been completed, not built from scratch, since the end of the Second Valentine War.

Chairwoman Clyne had gone public with the existence of the suits this morning. Moreover, she admitted they and Joule's new one were nuclear powered. She also made it quite clear that ZAFT was not going to discard its nuclear mobile suits this time around. They would discuss a limited number for everyone but the removal of those suits from their armory was not open for discussion. She had assured everyone that there would be no completely new suits built with Mirage Colloid though. This begged the question of just how many of these incomplete units there were stored in dusty corners of various ZAFT bases, a topic she'd avoided altogether.

"Albert," his sister was back, holding out a tall glass with what looked like a triple shot of whisky in it. "Have you located Terasawa yet? I despise the bitch but she's the only fleet commander left."

"Dieter didn't make it to that farce either." He waved an angry hand at the screen where a seventh replay was just beginning. "And he's a lot more manageable. We'll use Ruhde."

"No we won't. That was Bjork who just called in. Captain Ruhde died of Jupiter Fever about two hours ago. The _Ice Dragon_ is going into full quarantine somewhere in the Belt. He said they won't be checking back in until they know the ship is clean. It'll be three weeks at the earliest before we can hope to hear from them again."

"Shit!"

"I agree, now what about Terasawa?"

He shook his head grimly. "Not available. She's already checked in, remember? I told you what she had to say."

"Call her back," Crystal ordered. "Grovel if you have to. We _need_ a fleet commander, damnit! She's the only one with a name left right now. We have to have her. Especially since there's been no sound from either the _Duelist_ or the _Cleaver_. We have to assume Yamato got them both."

"Oh, I have," he assured her. "I assumed that the moment I realized not only did the little patchjob survive, he did so with an undamaged mobile suit. With Joule to protect, he will have turned on them as soon as he could be sure he had the damaged unit under cover. Since he had a wingman with Mirage Colloid to hand, I have no doubts both ships and any surviving suits are gone."

He leaned back. "Unfortunately this does not help us with Terasawa. The bitch flatly told me not to bother calling again, she will not respond. The problem with her is she's just sane enough to understand the odds. And she doesn't fancy ours. No, we could grovel for a year but we'd never hear a word back from her."

"Shit! What does that leave us with?"

"Bjork," he replied bluntly. "He's the only one left now with any command experience. And the Swede is a vindictive bastard. He'll not take the loss well at all. So all we can do when ships call in is have them get in touch with the _Ice Dragon_."

Albert glared at the screen, not seeing the battle any longer. "We will make Lars Bjork a god-damned pirate admiral if we have to! And once we do, we will stage another attack. Yamato's luck won't last forever. No one's does. We will get him."

He tossed half the drink down in one fiery swallow. It burned all the way down. Hell of a waste of fine whisky but he needed to calm down and this would mellow him out faster than just about anything else. The second half went down moments later. When Crystal offered to refill it though he refused. He needed to unwind a bit here, not to get drunk.

As the hundred and twenty proof booze began to thread its way through his body, he accepted the relaxation it brought. His head wasn't perfectly clear yet but it was working better on whisky than it had on rage. They were done in space for a few weeks. It was time to turn his attention back to Earth, most specifically to the Chinese. There was a very ambitious group that had just managed to weasel its way into a dangerous level of power in the Eurasian political structure, a place they were pretty much already holding on the military side. Those ambitions would not be beneficial to Blue Cosmos. He needed to go home for a while. Albert stared across the room through half-lidded eyes and smiled. He would leave Crystal in charge here in space. The pirates wouldn't know what hit them.

* * *

Sally watched the uncensored news reports Une had sent them for the third time. Something was different and she wasn't putting her finger on it. Only Johnny Morgan and Chen Ly had bothered to stay for one more repetition of what was, frankly, damn depressing information. This wasn't her first war, or Johnny's either for that matter, so at least two of them knew six weeks really wasn't much when it came to issues of ultimate win or lose in one. But six weeks of unrelenting depressing news was hard on moral no matter how it came out eventually. And moral was a serious issue when people were penned up in absolute quarantine like they were here.

So if something was changing, she needed to recognize it. Either it would boost moral or it would be one more factor that she'd have to deal with to keep it from sagging any further. No matter which it was, she had to understand what it was in these reports that was niggling at the back of her mind.

"How many times are you planning to sit through this sodden dreck?" Johnny asked calmly, his eyes focused on the visuals of the latest, fortunately failed, attack on the base at Bastogne.

"Dreck?" Lieutenant Ly asked, curiously.

"That's American for 'mind-numbingly awful'," Sally told him absently. "Or at least that's how Maxwell always translates it. Personally, I think it means something ruder than that. Must be very bad if Duo wouldn't say it out loud though. And the answer is, until I figure out what's different in this report from all the ones we've been seeing for the last six weeks."

"Oh, who's this Maxwell?" Chen enquired as he winced, a very large missile having just blasted a respectable crater just outside the perimeter of the base defenses.

Sally considered the question for a long second, then decided it was time to begin to inject some very specific hope in the team and the staff. "Gundam 02, nice kid, very loud and vulgar mouth though. He's a colonial American with a really vicious L2 vocabulary when he wants to use it."

Chen Ly whipped around to stare at her. "You _know_ one of the Gundam Pilots?"

Sally smiled. "I know all five of them. I was Resistance during the last part of the Eve Wars, I met them then. Honest, they're nice kids. Very determined to do their duty though. And 01 could be outright scary sometimes, he'd get so focused. That's not a kid to try to stop with words and if you're using weapons you'd better bring something meaner than he's got to the table to get him to pay any serious attention. He'd notice Zechs Merquise or fifty mobile dolls; not much of anything less was enough of a real threat to hold his consideration for longer than it took to blow it away."

"Where are, . . . . . . . . Sorry, I don't suppose I'm supposed to know that am I?"

"Nobody knows where they are," she assured him soberly. "The only safety they have is silence and ignorance. One of the big reasons I'm here is because I can identify them all. I can't afford to be picked up by Crimson Dawn for that information by itself, let alone all the rest of what I know about our resistance. But General Une has a connection to their contact so we do know they got away safely and that they're working on getting the equipment they'll need to be able to be effective when they return."

"The _GUNDAMS_ will be back?" Chen whispered, naked hope in his wide eyes.

"I didn't say that," Sally cautioned. "I said they're working on getting equipment. I haven't been told if that'll be new Gundams or not. Please don't say anything about Gundams, we don't know. It'll crush people if they're expecting Gundams and they don't have them when they reappear. If you want, you can tell our people that the pilots are alive and planning to return, just make sure you stamp on anyone who is trying to assure everyone they'll return with the Gundams themselves. The old ones were blown into small pieces. Five crazy old men were the only ones who knew how to build new ones and, as everyone knows, the Gundam scientists are dead. I honestly don't know if the pilots can build new ones without them or not."

Only one outright lie in the lot. Not bad for having to limit the information and control the levels of expectation hearing it would climb to. Because that was one thing coming in clearly from these tightly compressed data squirts they were getting every few days. Everyone opposed to Crimson Dawn was hoping the Gundams would miraculously reappear. After six weeks of fighting, only the most determinedly blind hadn't admitted the new Sagittarius suits were seriously outclassing all existing opposition. Anyone with brains and working eyes was all too aware that it would take the Gundams to bring them down.

Those were the self-same Gundams everyone had been so happy to see blown to bits three years ago by their own pilots as a pledge of eternal peace. My, my, how enlightening a solid dose of reality could be. From cries to rid the world of such dangerous weapons to whispers praying they'd return. Mariemaia had honestly had a point when she'd told Relena the three beats of war, revolution, and peace were eternal. Now if only people learned from this experience and started yelling for responsible control of weapons instead of blind elimination, maybe the world would come out ahead after all. Maybe they'd properly fund the Preventers too, just to see that nothing like this happened again.

Yeah, Sally acknowledged in the back of her own mind, and maybe pigs would grow wings and start flying with the eagles too. Still, she mustered up a warm smile when Chen Ly bounced out of his chair to go spread the good word to the entire base. That she actually thought might help. If nothing else, it would give them all a fresh incentive to keep focused on their training.

"I give it a month, maybe a bit longer," Morgan said quietly after the door closed behind the Lieutenant.

"You give what a month?" She asked.

"The boost in moral and heart that little story will set off. If there aren't any Gundams in a month, it'll wear off."

"Only if we harp on it. If we're smart and only trot the reminder out when we really need it, I think we can stretch the effects out over six to eight weeks."

Morgan sighed. "We'll hope so. Because if we see a Gundam in less than six months I'll be surprised. The Dawn is being a bit smarter than I'd hoped. If they keep themselves restricted to government and Preventer targets, no matter how vicious they are, a lot of people will hold their noses and accept it as the price of ridding themselves of corruption. Really, the bastards who worked behind the President's and Dorlian's backs have a lot to answer for."

"Oh, most of them are," Sally assured him grimly. "The Dawn isn't taking prisoners and it isn't accepting conversions. You saw the other day what's happening to those old Romefeller families who were connected to that internal plot to grab control from the current Sun. The only survivors there will be the ones who have the guts and brains to just sign over their wealth and property to the Dawn and take whatever scut jobs they're offered. And given the arrogance of most of those fools, there aren't going to be many of them that smart."

"Damn few of 'em are gonna be all that missed either," Morgan noted dryly. "Too many of 'em couldn't keep their big mouths shut during the Eve Wars and kept bragging about how superior they were. Lots of people haven't forgiven 'em for that. Then so many of 'em moved back into politics in a big way these last two years. Now the evidence we've had all along for just how much of the corruption in Europe and Asia can be traced directly to their bank accounts is coming out. No, the Dawn can shoot 'em with almost complete public impunity. The Sun is being sharp enough to make sure each family he destroys is firmly tarred with the corruption scandals one way or another before they're shot. We aren't going to have any sympathy to use against the Dawn there."

"I know." She turned her attention back to the newscast. Thinking about how many of the breaks were going the Dawn's way was just too depressing. And Une hadn't offered any timing for the boys return either. Their people here weren't the only ones with moral issues. Sally didn't try to tell herself she didn't have them, she knew she did. It was not easy trying to keep spirits up on this whole base when her own were having a down day.

She watched a very brief piece on an anti-violence protest by the 'peace hounds' in Rio de Janeiro. At least someone was standing up for what they believed in. It worried her though. Peace hounds were so completely dedicated to Total Pacifism that they would not defend themselves if attacked. This very orderly march of several hundred through the streets of Brazil's most famous city was not going to make them popular with the Dawn. They were making enemies they couldn't afford, or survive.

That piece was followed by three more of similar length noting other protests or anti-violence speeches by other 'peace hound' groups. She just shook her head unhappily. They were becoming more and more vocal. And they didn't mince words or fail to name names. If they didn't learn how to do this diplomatically real soon, someone with a lot of guns and no hesitation about using them was likely to try to teach them new manners.

"You have to admire the courage of their convictions," Johnny said quietly. "But they're gonna get themselves shot if they don't shut up."

"I would hope not," Sally sighed, knowing he was right.

"Hope is good for the soul but it won't stop a bullet," Morgan told her flatly. "The Dawn won't tolerate even completely non-violent opposition much longer. It especially won't tolerate it when it's criticizing them for killing the non-combatants. That's the Dawn's terror edge and they aren't about to give it up yet. If they can see the 'peace hound' protests are starting to affect public opinion, well, the 'hounds' are going to be in trouble."

She gave him a troubled look. "I don't know, I mean I agree with you and yet I don't. The 'peace hound' movement is almost universally seen as idealism at it's highest. They tend to be respected for their convictions by almost everyone. Well, organized crime and the Dawn aside that is. They have a huge moral clout with the public. It would be very dangerous to attack them."

"And you expect that to stop the 'Rational Revolution' fanatics of the Dawn why?" The other Preventer shook his head slowly. "Honey, take it from someone who grew up black in North America and learned his family's history well. When those in power plan to stay there come hell or high water, they don't seriously think about possible consequences when it comes to opposition. They tend to shot it and let the chips fall where they will. We have a fully integrated and racially peaceful society now but getting there was a long, bloody, and brutal process that got a _lot_ of innocents killed. One of my several-times great-grandmother's lost a sister when some racist bastard blew up the church the family attended. Others were shot or hung for being out at the wrong place after dark. And a few died in the protests that finally began to force the society toward the much happier racial times we all have now. No, the Dawn shares a lot of characteristics with the old Klan. Believe me, if they aren't careful, the 'peace hounds' will find themselves targets."

"That would be absolutely stupid of them!" Sally protested. "Can you imagine world reaction to a slaughter of those people?"

Morgan gave her a weary stare. "Like they say, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Dawn is going for absolute power here, Sally. They aren't going to let a bunch of mule-headed idealists who aren't even armed stand in their way. Think about it, eh?"

She did. And she saw both horror and hope in it. Because she knew she wasn't wrong about how the 'peace hound' community was seen. If Crimson Dawn ever struck them, it would not be an act the world would forgive. If it could be proven beyond any effort of the Dawn's to discredit the report that it was their work, well; she just shook her head, unwilling to risk cursing any of those peaceful people with her need for an incident that would wake the world up to what was really happening.

She flipped the news off when it reached the end of the third repeat. She still wasn't sure what had nagged at her attention but she did know the tone of much of it was darker than it had been only last week. Things beyond the doors of their mountain base were getting grimmer. At least some of the world seemed to be seeing that now. Perhaps it would lead somewhere positive.

* * *

Even in the dangerous chaos of the Debris Belt, there were loci of relative stability. The one-time artisan's colony known now as 'the Graveyard' was in one. Ash Gray had found another for his Genesis-Alpha base.

Ilene Terasawa had no idea who had cobbled together the enormous shell that she now used as the base for the Vulture Fleet. It had been empty when she'd first stumbled on it almost eight years ago: the builders had stripped all their effects from the rooms and data from the computers. She no longer had much interest in them. They were gone and she was here. It was good enough.

The three ships of the fleet were snugged into their berths now. Preparations to temporarily mothball them were already getting underway. And she was sitting at the comm/data station on the bridge of the small cruiser, the _Hungry Hatchling_, watching Mickey and the others who would make up the crew for this trip begin to call the sleeping ship back to life.

Lucy So had already left, taking the first wave of their people with her. They were the ones who would integrate back into general society the easiest. Each of the people with So had an established identity that could readily account for this most recent, prolonged absence from their old haunts. Most claimed jobs like free-lance journalist or construction worker or gypsy mobile suit operator, all jobs with very high mobility and low accountability.

Once they were reestablished, they would act as conduits, allowing the rest of the crews to filter back as they vouched for them at new jobs. But it would take three weeks to fully mothball the three ships of the fleet so the urgency wasn't instantaneous to be getting new identities going for most. Pressing, yes, but not immediate.

Terasawa turned her attention to the boards in front of her. Getting the rest of their people out and settled was Yuki's job. Hers was finding those Blue Cosmos bases. She began to activate the boards, readying them to take new data from all three ships before those computers went off-line.

Hours later, how many she honestly wasn't sure, Yuki Hartono quietly cleared her throat to get her leader's attention. Ilene looked up, very slightly confused as her focus had been nearly total. But the carefully neutral expression on Hartono's face told her there was either a real problem or something that could be come one that needed her attention. She raised one eyebrow in question.

"The rescue ships have reached the survivors at Endymion." Yuki said quietly. "The news is all over it."

"I see. How bad is it?"

"Well, we're the nasty evil bad pirate monsters again. That aside, not too actually. Both Zala and La Flaga have refused to be misquoted and have said very plainly that we could have killed a lot more than we did. They are both pretty sure you were after a specific target and everyone else was just collateral damages. Waltfeld is backing that idea. One of the newsies got a very, very good picture of you checking the interior of that life shell before you popped it. Truthfully, you'd have to be blind or Blue Cosmos not to have seen that you were hunting someone and didn't strike until you knew where they were. It's raising a lot of speculation on just who the target was."

She just shook her head, damn it! She should have made sure she got all the newsies! Now her last half-brother was going to be warned. Not that he shouldn't have known after all this time and blood, but this seriously upped the odds that he'd vanish down some well-guarded hole. She'd have a devil of a time digging him out if he did that now.

"Anything else that matters?" She finally asked when chasing disappointing scenarios eventually got old.

"You made a good call, bringing the Fleet in and starting us into mothballs." Yuki kept her voce very soft and stared grimly out the forward viewport, eyes clearly seeing something other than the actual view. "The bounty on us all has tripled. It's large enough now to worry me."

"You mean it's large enough to tempt some of our newer people into thinking they can sell personal enemies within the Fleet." Ilene closed her eyes in frustrated disgust.

"All right," she spoke as quietly at Hartono just had. "As soon as we get the _Hatchling_ out of here and you're down to your most trusted hands, execute Operation Diaspora. Don't leave anything behind that could lead a tracker to you. If you have to, blow this place on your way out."

The other woman stared in shock. "What?"

"If the money is that good, someone will take the bait. We're pirates, Yuki, not saints. The Fleet exists only as long as we have ships to fly. Protect the ships and the Fleet lives, lose them and it dies. You know how to get to each of those points blindfolded. So make damn sure the navi-computers are shut down before you move out of here. Get word to Lucy as soon as you finish. Then make sure everyone gets to Earth safely. From there, life will be a waiting game until they have something else to distract them from hunting us." She grinned viciously. "Like knowing where to find Blue Cosmos maybe. Nothing like an even worse enemy to distract you from a simply bad one."

"You've got a point there. All right. Consider Operation Diaspora underway."

"And Yuki," she said quietly as the other Captain paused, "I want to know immediately if they find Yamato alive. I don't care if I'm asleep and it's the first good rest I've had in a week, you wake me as soon as that word comes. Yell at me if I'm in the shower, it doesn't matter, I want to know and watch how this plays out. I think a good deal of how we approach the ZAFT when we finally have Blue Cosmos to sell to them will depend on what the rescue ships find at Mendel."

Her fellow Captain and good friend nodded slowly. Eyes met and they both saw agreement. Oh, yes, how they approached ZAFT was going to be very dependent on what kind of shape Yamato, and to a lesser extent, Joule was found in. The better the condition, the easier this would be. But if he turned up dead, well, she just might have to rethink this whole deal. Because she knew who the PLANTs would blame for that death. She found herself, irony of ironies, hoping the damn brat wasn't hurt at all.

* * *

Morning was something of a subjective concept on a space colony at the best of times. On one as trashed as Mendel, it was completely arbitrary. Kira had been awake for a good half hour before he decided he wasn't going to be going back to sleep and opted for getting up. A single look had told him both Yzak and Dearka were still oblivious. So he showered, snagged a ration bar, dressed in the uniform he, like most pilots, had kept in his machine now that 'peace' was here, left the other two a note, and went out to see what his hosts were up to.

What he found was just how early it was for everyone. No one was in the lounge or the kitchen. He checked on the mobile suits in the hanger but they had no other company either. He was about to stick his head in the dining room when he heard a voice. Turning toward it, Kira realized there was a concealed room at the end of the hallway. He recognized the type of hidden door from explorations of the building overhead. Curious, he went to look.

The door wasn't fully closed but it was tight enough to prevent him from really understanding what was being said. There were three voices though and one of them was the husky, unmistakable one of Colonel Merquise. The second sounded like Yuy's flat tone and he thought Maxwell might be the last one. There was an urgency in them that sent his hand to the door to cautiously ease it further open.

" . . . . it Zechs! I don't even know if this wreck _has_ attitude correction thrusters! And I ain't findin' 'em in this mess either! 'Ro, you havin' any luck?" Yes, that was Maxwell all right and it sounded like the problem was serious.

"Not yet. The damage to the systems is making the search more time consuming that it should be."

"You found _anything_ useful yet Zechs?" Duo had an iron edge to his voice now that spoke of serious danger and complete focus. "The decay is getting noticeable."

"No." Merquise answer was hard and concise.

"Shit! We are so fucked!"

Decay noticeable? Kira blinked, then it registered. Oh hell! All those ships exploding, all that material sent slamming into this rickety colony! Of course orbital stability would be affected! He shoved the door open wide and whipped into the room.

It was a very well setup communications and control center. Kira let his eyes sweep the boards before he centered on the one Heero Yuy was at. Yeah, that was the command center and the one he needed.

"Captain Yuy, I need that seat," Kira snapped, his eyes reading the computations for mass, vector, and acceleration on the screen directly in front of it. "You've missed a couple things. They have to be figured _now_ or we'll be past the point where the thrusters the colony has left can compensate in ten minutes or less."

Yuy didn't hesitate, he was out of the chair instantly. Kira grabbed it and threw himself into it almost before the smaller pilot could get clear. He immediately brought up four new sub-screens that Yuy apparently hadn't known about and began to check the actual situation.

"Hull integrity marginal but under repair," Kira muttered as his hands flew across the keyboard. "Seven sites, not too bad for all that hit this place. Impact mass total, shit a lot of stuff hit! Impact mass accrued, oh did we get lucky, most didn't stick. Thruster function, yeah we still have all seventeen!"

"How the fucking hell can he type that fast?" Duo's voice held shock.

An unoccupied part of Kira's mind took note of that remark. It told him none of these people really knew what a Coordinator was. And it assured him none of them were a real equivalent to a Coordinator. They'd have seen speed like this before if they were. The rest of his mind continued to process data as fast as the staggering mainframe could cough it out.

"Allow for accrued mass. Verify registered pre-battle colony mass. Add. Allow for unknown elements possible as part of recovery team equipment." He paused, scanned the final number three times, hunting for errors, and found none. "Program thruster firing sequence and duration for initial burn. Verify fuel for each unit is adequate. Verified. Programmed. Calculate most advantageous firing time, . . . shit, almost past it! Fire now!"

His hands made one last flashing move, then went still. For long seconds it didn't seem as though anything had happened. Then a vibration began that shook the entire colony. And Kira was abruptly aware of settling ever so slightly deeper into the chair as the thrusters began to arrest the colony's deadly swing. There was a shout somewhere in the corridor behind him too as someone else up and awake now realized what was happening. His eyes though never left the rapidly scrolling data in front of him as it reported on many things at once.

"Hope to hell he got it right," Maxwell said, the depth of his concern clear in his voice.

"He did." Yuy was suddenly standing beside him, eyes also locked on the swiftly rolling data. "We're already reaching the arrest point. And nothing is breaking yet."

"Doesn't look like it's going to either." Colonel Merquise was up on his other side, eyes as focused as Yuy's.

The vibration abruptly ceased as the thrusters cut out. Kira watched the numbers begin to slow as the additional vectoring energy shut down. He already knew they were going to have to do a second firing. He'd applied a touch too much power on this first one. The colony was going to end up swinging the other way in a few hours. But he'd calculate that one later. It was important to let the existing change stabilize first.

"Beautiful work, Commander." Merquise said quietly as he continued to watch the recovery numbers indicate a reasonably slow but steady improvement. "We should stop just short of the point of no return before the correction begin. I think you may have to do a second burn though."

"I will," Kira agreed. "Things were just too far along. I had to use too much power in order to stop the movement before it was too late."

"Yeah, well ya stopped it," Duo was hovering over his right shoulder now. "And I'm damn glad you did."

"We all are." The new voice was Winner's.

Kira turned to find everyone in the room now, including Dearka and Yzak. The blond gave him a small thumbs up. Yzak did him the honor of _not_ scowling at him. The guests were just looking relieved. So much so that it made the Coordinator wonder if they'd all known the danger they'd been in.

"Are we stable?" Mariemaia asked seriously.

"Not yet," Dearka told her as he read the numbers for himself. "But the swing out of orbit has been arrested. It won't take that much to get the colony back into a stable orbit now. Might need to make three or four progressively smaller burns before complete stability is achieved but that's all that's needed."

"Oh, good! I don't want to have even the smallest responsibility for causing an Operation Meteor here."

"A what?" Yzak pounced on that remark instantly.

"Operation Meteor," Heero Yuy replied. "The original I assume, right?"

The girl nodded grimly and Yuy turned back to Joule. "Colonel Merquise gave you a brief rundown of our recent history yesterday. What he didn't bother with was the fact that the operation that our Gundams were actually built for never happened. Dekim Barton intended to drop a colony on the planet. We were supposed to go in behind that drop and slaughter what opposition remained. He intended the planet to be next to uninhabitable for decades while he secured rulership over everyone left on planet and in the colonies. The plan was known as Operation Meteor."

Yuy paused, then added quietly, "None of us would agree to it. So the scientists saw to it that the plan was modified without telling old Barton. We did go to Earth and we did fight. But they arranged for us to functionally steal the Gundams and to slide with them out of the man's control. So the colony was never dropped. He tried again a year after the war ended but that effort failed as well. Barton was killed in that one, Earth is now safe from him. The concern is the rise of others who think the same way he did. I have no proof, but I believe Crimson Dawn is prepared to do the same thing if they find they can't win by force of arms."

"That's a nasty thought," Dearka said softly. "Reminds me too much of what would have happened if we hadn't managed to break up Junius Seven when those bastards tried to drop it on Earth."

"Too much of it got past us." Yzak stared grimly at something invisible that Kira rather though might be a particularly ugly memory if the look on his face was anything to go by.

"I believe it would be good to discuss this." Relena stepped forward. "Perhaps we can provide breakfast and a place to sit and talk?"

"I'll be very happy to talk," Yzak told her politely. "But we've decided not to take any chances with foods. Ration bars are uninspired but we know their safety. I'm sorry but unless you've been upstairs to the labs above and done a truly complete analysis, we must decline your generous offer."

"There's a lab up in there?" Quatre and Dorothy both looked very interested.

"Several of them," Kira replied wearily. "But we've only found one that's still fully functional. It was Dr. Hibiki's private facility. Blue Cosmos never found it when they were tearing G.A.R.M. apart and killing everyone they found there. Dr. Ito and I stumbled on it on my last visit here a few months ago. We shut the door and left it intact. There are too many questions that may have answers hidden in there and we were out of time to do the kind of investigation it needs."

Kira stared at the floor and added, "We already know the answers in that lab may be deadly. Old Roland isn't sure he wants to find them any more. I never was."

"And Dr. Hibiki was?" Quatre probed gently.

"Director of G.A.R.M." Yzak replied shortly.

That brought the conversation to an abrupt end. Not even Maxwell missed the cues on just how sensitive that subject was. He kept his mouth shut although the struggle to do so was plain for everyone else to see. Relena gently herded them all out and into the larger conversation area in the lounge where they found the promised breakfast waiting.

The meal was a time of polite conversation with topics picked with care in a serious effort to avoid both business and a chance of upsetting anyone. Kira watched Relena and Quatre mastermind the conversations with a smooth handoff from one to the other and back again. They'd obviously done this before. They also obviously came from backgrounds of power, money, and privilege. The flawless civility was clue enough but the fact that they really didn't seem to notice Maxwell's much more blunt attitude all the while they were trying to smooth the edges of it was a dead giveaway.

He sat back and listened, speaking only when he couldn't get out of it. They hadn't had a chance to discuss anything but Yzak was nothing if not adept at getting his orders across. There was an entire language of hand and body posture signs the ZAFT had developed to allow soldiers to exchange information without the Naturals catching on. It had never proven particularly useful as the Alliance wasn't prone to taking prisoners and it was primarily for that situation that it had evolved. But it was also useful for situations like this, where a commander wanted someone to gather all the information he could just by observation. It wouldn't hurt to have the most in-depth impressions he could collect to give Lacus either.

So Kira watched, smiled politely, and watched some more as the meal ended and the real negotiations began. All of these visitors were people worth watching, which made keeping a truly solid eye on things difficult. It really wasn't a help that the discussion was so general either. But through it all, Kira was beginning to think these people wanted to talk, seriously talk, about the possibility of exchanging technology. They weren't exactly desperate but it wasn't hard to see how badly outnumbered they saw themselves and how dangerous they rated this Crimson Dawn group as being.

Yzak was trying to get something worked out to get them access to the visitor's language. He kept putting off Relena, Quatre, and Zechs' attempts to move the subject to any kind of tech at all. You had to know him to really see it but once you did, his distrust of the whole situation was very clear. He was taking it all at face value for the moment because he almost had to but he was sincerely wary of it all too. Yzak Joule wasn't prepared to trust anyone he couldn't understand and understanding vanished whenever one of them fell back into their own language. Quite reasonably, they didn't seem to want to share that at this point.

It occurred to Kira that there might be a way to get it. But he was going to have to get to Strike-Freedom to be sure about that. And he had no reason to leave the room for the kind of time he'd need either.

Then Yzak suddenly changed his orders. Yuy had excused himself a while ago, implying he was going to the latrine and would be back. But that was over twenty minutes now and there was no sign of Yuy. Yzak wanted him to find the Wing Zero pilot and make sure nothing was happening to their mobile suits. So he slid over to Barton, made his excuses there, and quietly faded out the door, very aware of Maxwell's eyes following him. And he did stop by their rooms, there were things someone could well have tried to get into there also. But he could find no indications that anything had been disturbed.

The sitting room included a computer terminal. The unit was supposed to be quite limited in its access but the people who'd programmed the system hadn't planned on having someone of Kira's caliber around to hack it either. Then too, he had already given himself administrative rights on the mainframe months ago. Breaking into the system wasn't all that hard for him.

Ten minutes later, Kira was opening the secret door that led between Yzak and Dearka's room and the very secret corridor behind that wall. He closed it carefully behind him, quite sure at least Duo Maxwell was sharp enough to find it if he wasn't cautious. He turned right, having already located Yuy using the security network. The other pilot was in the outer hanger, working to make it even less likely to be detected as a functional point of entry than it already was. It was time to get to his mobile suit and do some more, far less traceable hacking.


	20. Chapter 20

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 20 Onward

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Sorry about the long time between chapters. August and September have a lot of outside the house commitments in them for me. Not to mention that spinning yarn for _Sheep and Wool_ makes writing difficult as you need both hands to do either. I do hope to have the next one up in less than two months.

* * *

He gave the Solar Assembly chamber a quiet study as he entered. If you didn't know it had happened, you would never know there had been a vicious, and short, battle fought in here thirty six days ago. If you did know though, the repairs had an odd way of standing out in your mind. Which was interesting when the repair work had blended the new with the old almost seamlessly. That the new stood out so much in his mind said something less than pleasant about how he'd come to regard this over-decorated room.

The Sun turned his attention to his new Assembly of Planets with a dour eye; one it was just as well was concealed by his elaborate formal mask. Things hadn't gone as well as he'd anticipated in the immediate aftermath of the former Pluto's murderous rampage. He'd only managed to secure half of the places the killer had opened for men he trusted.

Venus had proven surprisingly skilled at the maneuvering the situation had demanded. A cousin of hers now wore Uranus' mask and followed her lead without any public questioning. The new Mercury came from the faction that had followed the late Asteroids and was no more to be trusted than he had been. The man who now wore the Asteroids mask on the other hand was in no one's pocket. He was an arrogant bastard but he was also a very sharp one who was dedicated, not to any individual, but to the grand design of the Rational Revolution. Unfortunately, the same could now be said of both Saturn and Mars, leaving the three of them unreliable under almost all circumstances. Terra alone remained his firm ally. He had three he could trust, three he couldn't and three who chose their sides anew each meeting.

What fool had said it was good to be the King? In reality, it was a dangerously delicate balancing act for a 'monarch' who lacked the power to be a truly absolute ruler. The Sun resented being caught in this potentially lethal dance. He'd seen others reach for power without attaining enough of it to give them the edge they needed. And he'd watched them die. Yuy the peacemaker, Peacecraft, Yuy's partner in their drive for peace, who fell with most of his family leaving only the two children behind, Khushrenada the clever but too honorable, and Barton the greedy old dog who'd even turned on his own granddaughter in the end as he made his failed snatch for glory. They'd all fallen because they hadn't managed to garner quite enough power. He was determined to avoid their fates. All he needed was a way to control his Assembly.

Still, as he watched the uneasy ten who were taking their chairs now that he was seated, he realized that there were keys out there somewhere. These ambitious men and women all had weak points. He was very aware that he didn't know those points well enough but that didn't mean he couldn't find out what they were. He had a sudden flash of the report he'd been given that had so neatly, and honestly, tracked the probabilities when the Gundam Pilots had escaped. Perhaps he should avail himself of that clever boy's sharp mind again.

He shelved that thought for future consideration as he nodded to the Planets. "We will have all the formal platitudes included in the minutes but I don't want to waste the time on them. We have a war on our hands and we need to focus there, not on fancy words for posterity. I will have your reports now. We will have lunch served when they are all presented. Use the time to digest the information even more than you do the food. I will be expecting intelligent opinions on each one after our meal."

He turned to his immediate right. "Mercury, where do we stand in our production goals?"

If he'd hoped to jar the other by jumping straight into the meat of the meeting, he failed. Mercury quietly opened his briefcase and lifted out a stack of papers which he quickly passed around. One glance told the Sun it was a printout of the major points of the man's intended presentation.

"We've got a problem," Mercury began with brutal directness and honesty. "The Preventers are proving to be better at sabotage than anyone expected. And they're doing it without the aid of the Gundam Pilots. We've heard the rumors that it was Shinigami but that's all they are; rumors. Every scrap of data we've amassed points to Colonel Saito as the mastermind here and he's no Gundam pilot! We need to keep our people focused on the facts. The facts are telling us the Gundams are still in hiding somewhere. We can't afford to pretend the Preventers are helpless without those pilots."

"Damages?" Venus asked sweetly.

Mercury turned directly to her. "The main mobile suit plant is going to be running at ten to fifteen percent of design capacity for at least another five weeks and somewhere under a hundred for another eight. The rate will improve over time of course but the flat fact is it will be thirteen weeks at the earliest before we are turning out enough new mobile suits to allow our forces to expand their zones of control. Neither of the backup plants is ready to begin production either. I would appreciate it if you would speak to your supply people. We need the materials that are sitting on backorder in your department and we need them now or the damned Preventers will get the chance to really dig in for the long haul."

"Excuse me! What do you think you are saying?" Venus snarled.

"He's saying quit playing politics with the war supplies." Jupiter spoke coldly and directly, dangerously so.

"I will not hear this bickering!" The Sun cut in before this could get out of hand. "We have a war to fight and it isn't among ourselves. There will be no more insinuations of dereliction of duty!"

His voice abruptly froze. "Do I make myself clear?"

The Planets shifted uneasily but no one had the courage, or perhaps the stupidity, to disagree. He gave one sharp nod that came close to unbalancing the heavy mask, then sat back. A quick hand waved at Mercury got him back on track. The man had clearly heard the threat behind the order. His report was lucid, reasonably honest, and depressing but he finished it without the blatant accusations of interdepartmental backbiting he'd started with.

Venus delivered her supply report just as baldly. Things were improving but even the Sun knew that until they could really secure control over the global economy the Revolution's physical supply lines were going to be a potential weakness. Terra's assessment of the companies they could strong arm into supplying the Revolution without paying them what the materials would be worth was the first bright spot. Unfortunately Mars followed that with an assessment of the shifting public opinion of the Revolution. It was absurd the things the fickle public seized on to be upset about. Still it did look like they were going to have to pay serious attention to their image in the not too distant future.

Asteroids report on the assets the Preventers appeared to have was too good to be true. They'd have already taken Bastogne _and_ Hawaii if their enemy was that poorly supplied. At least he ended it with some degree of honesty when he admitted that what they could prove the enemy had couldn't be counted on to be accurate.

Saturn's report on the morale within their own forces was interesting and disturbing. The Sun didn't like the opening rift she was noting between the regular troops and the special teams who were the Revolution's enforcers. He knew what was causing it but it was much too soon to consider reining those teams in. There were still far too many supporters of the old government left. They had to be eliminated. And everyone, from the backwaters of the planet to the dingiest slum in the Colonies had to understand to the core of their beings just how serious the Rational Revolution was about opposition.

Uranus laid out an entire new propaganda program for the Assembly to consider. Personally, the Sun found it simplistic and frankly boring but it wasn't aimed at him after all. When one considered the average intelligence of the population though, he rather thought it would do well.

Neptune's report on the internal loyalty of their own people was encouraging. Apparently the rift between the troops and the special teams was not as serious as Saturn was suggesting. Nor was there any signs of significant penetration of their organization by any enemy agents. It was nice to have something going right.

Pluto ran through their finances quickly. Almost too quickly. The Sun wondered just how much he was trying to siphon off for his personal account. But the numbers were very nice anyway. The estates and commercial properties seized from some three dozen of the old Romefeller families had made a very solid contribution to their overall stability. Now if only the Winner family would make some mistake and allow them an excuse to seize their assets as well, all would be nearly perfect.

It was exceptionally unfortunate that young Quatre Winner was so damned popular. And revealing that the boy was one of the Gundam Pilots would be very, very counterproductive. No matter what else had happened, the mysterious five pilots still had an almost cult-like status with far too much of the population. Saving the planet from the equivalent of nuclear winter had made them instant legends, returning to defeat old Barton had sealed it. Because of it, striking at the Winners would simply be too strategically dangerous at this time. He smiled grimly behind his mask; their day would come, the Revolution would take what rightfully belonged to it.

By common consent, Jupiter reported last. His was an in depth analysis of the war so far. The man was ruthlessly honest, making his report almost the most difficult to listen to. He was direct in his criticism of the training of all their personnel. Yes, the units had been barely formed when those fools on L2 had forced the Revolution to start early, he was willing to grant the training teams the disadvantage there, but he also pointed out how much of their training efforts were going to the special teams at the expense of their line soldiers. And it was the line soldiers who were doing the brunt of the work.

Venus interrupted as he began to wind up that portion of the report. "We can't afford to let down on the Special Teams! They are our cutting edge, they must be the sharpest we can possibly make them."

"We can't afford to indulge them any longer." Jupiter had no give in him on this. "They aren't doing the fighting. They aren't the troops we are depending on to take down the Preventers. Worse, they're in danger of becoming nothing more than semi-tame butchers. They resent any order that slows their slaughter and many of the teams are developing a very unhealthy fondness for torture and rape. They are beginning to see themselves as above everyone else in the Revolution, including this Assembly! Or do you fancy finding yourself in the hands of one of your precious teams if they decide you aren't indulging them enough? Because some of these men will turn on you without question."

He turned to the rest of the Assembly. "We must reassert control over the Special Teams. Even if we need to use one of them to exterminate the ones falling furthest out of control. They must understand that they answer to us. And that we will decide when and where they will kill."

"Jupiter is right," Mars said sharply. "The shifting public opinion is being directly driven by the proofs of Special Team excesses. We control the majority of the global information networks but we haven't been able to shut down all the independent sources yet and probably won't for at least a year. There are too many of them and they're too good at evasion. It will take time, significant amounts of it, to silence the last of them. And until we do, the brutalities of the Teams will continue to be brought to the public's attention and will continue to damage our image in the public eye."

"You worry too much about our image," Uranus rumbled irritably.

"You don't worry enough!" Mars snapped. "We haven't won this war yet. And if you alienate enough people, we won't. If the public decides the Preventers are the lesser evil, we will lose now. We aren't solid enough to be able to afford to neglect the opinion of the population. And don't lie to yourself by telling yourself we are!"

"There is also that division growing in our own ranks," Saturn noted grimly. "You may paint it over right now while it is still small but if we don't treat the troops with a good deal more consideration, it will become a dangerous issue within our own combat forces."

"The line troops are beginning to see this Assembly as treating them as though they are second class to the Special Teams." Jupiter sat back and waved a hand at Venus. "It is one thing for a soldier to see another unit as an elite force with the privileges that go with that status. It is quite another for that same soldier to see them as being favored at the expense of his own life. That little error, left unchecked, will destroy our soldier's morale and their loyalty. Do not forget that these men serve us in large part because we have offered them the respect the UESN did not! If they perceive that our respect is no more than a shell to use them to put us in power, they will desert us."

"Where do you think they can go?" Venus sneered. "They have no one else to run to. They aren't going to desert."

"Actually," Terra said slowly, "there are a lot of them the Preventers would take in. All it would take would be an announcement from that missing Dorlian girl saying that they would be forgiven and then, yes, they would have a place to run to."

She turned to Mercury. "Where do we stand in that search? That girl is a sword hanging over our heads; too many people love her and refuse to blame her for the excesses of the government. We need her dead! And those five damn boys with her!"

"They've found a very deep hole to hide in." The Sun cut in before Mercury could say the wrong thing, the last thing he needed was an admission that the search was going nowhere. "Wherever it is though, it is deep enough to silence her as well as hide her. She is no threat until she emerges far enough to be heard. And once she does that, we will have her!"

Where the meeting would have gone from there the Sun would never know. He'd barely finished speaking when there was a heavy pounding on the main doors. They all turned to stare as Major Trident burst into the room, and none of them, the Sun noted from his place at the head of the table, without some fear.

"My Lord! My Lord! Please pardon the interruption but there is an electronic signal coming from this chamber! One of the prisoners Master Firebird has been using as cleaning staff is dead by her own hand! My Lord, we must sweep this chamber!"

The meeting dissolved into chaos.

* * *

G studied the printout carefully but despite his personal determination, the conclusion he was forced to draw from it was unchanged. He wondered how that Saito fellow had managed to get hold of it. More importantly, he wondered if the Preventer could get hold of the follow-up that was sure to written for this.

"You look like you tried to eat a half-ripe lemon grove." J noted from his comfortable chair.

"You will too when you finish this." G tossed the document at his partner. "And I hope your aging brain hasn't atrophied completely because we have a problem here."

"If that's the data from Colonel Saito, I've already read it." J dismissed the issue.

"And I suppose you have an answer for it?"

"Oh, I have an answer but it isn't one _we_ can do much about."

G looked up sharply, that tone wasn't reassuring.

J gave him a level stare. "They really dug one out of the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, it's still a fine weapon, the first I've seen that'll actually penetrate the level of gundanium armor we have on our machines. We need a way to stop it. And that way is on the other side of the barrier. We need to make a tech trade and we need to do it fast."

"How can it do that?" G suddenly snarled in frustrated fury. "It's an antique! I've read the specs for it, it doesn't have the power! Yet they've clearly tested it and it damn well works! What the hell is going on here?"

"They upped the power and dropped the firing rate." J shrugged. "And spent uranium slugs are simply incredibly dense. Coat them with just enough gundanium to allow them to hold together long enough for the impact point to be forced to absorb the entire energy expenditure of the hit and, yes, even our new laminated gundanium armor will fail."

He flipped the report to the surprisingly clear picture of one of the rounds. "The clever bastards have made them dum-dums too. And you'll notice the coating they used after they cut the cross in the nose is plain lead, not more gundanium. It'll control the worst of the radiation the depleted slug still has left, what little there is in the first place, and will give instantly when it's trapped between the rest of the slug and the impacted target. The gundanium jacket will hold the slug's mass in line until it's penetrated the target. They will still need very good, almost straight line strikes to break the armor of a Gundam but with a rate of fire of eighteen hundred rounds a minute, they should manage to make a few good hits."

J looked up grimly. "We have only one bright light here. Those weapons need a huge ammunition reservoir. The Sagittarius suits have the reservoir but the sheer mass of that much expended uranium will slow them markedly. They would stand no chance against the fast-moving Gundams if they sent nothing but these new weapons. More importantly, they didn't do a good job of adapting the gun to space. It'll be very prone to jamming out there with no air to help dissipate the heat those seven Gatling barrels will build up."

G gave him an odd stare, then an evil smile. "Why that could be a problem, couldn't it what with such a high rate of fire. I'd imagine a poor pilot wouldn't get much chance to take his finger off the trigger before the whole thing was just ripped apart on him."

"Thirty rounds a second?" J grinned back. "No, I doubt the pilot would get to let go before it blew up on him."

G was instantly a lot more sober. "Of course, they'll know that too and the number of rounds allowed for one burst will be controlled to prevent that delightful outcome. But, can the heat issue be compensated for? I know what we did with Heavyarms but we weren't trying to use anything like spent uranium for the ammunition. The systems aren't likely to be that comparable."

"Slowing the rate of fire is about all they could do." J said thoughtfully. "This is a mobile suit we're talking about here, not a ship. There just isn't the space to put in the kind of cooling system that weapon really needs. Even slowing it down won't really solve the problem until they bring it under five rounds per second."

"Yuy will be able to deal with anyone firing that slowly easily." G noted as he scowled. "But I'm not so sure the rest will. All of them are really set up as fairly close-order combat units. And Altron's dragon fangs won't stop spent uranium, not moving at that speed. We need a better solution."

"Agreed. Not even our improvements to the Mercurius shields will be adequate although installing a set will definitely help."

"Did you watch the films from that very interesting battle over Mendel?" J suddenly asked.

"Several times," G noted dryly, wondering which part of the fight had inspired this question.

"I found the effectiveness of that light shield Yamato and Joule's suits projected rather fascinating. Tell me, what do you think of them?"

"What do you plan to trade for it?" G returned. "And how many replacement parts do you intend to get? We can't reproduce that canceller we took and I'd be surprised if those shields weren't even more advanced than that."

"Yes, I know," he agreed calmly. "But so is gundanium. Have you considered how much faster and more maneuverable those mobile suits of theirs would be if you lopped off about half the mass? I've given their units a very good scanning now and their armor isn't much thicker than what we use. But it is many times heavier. I'd estimate the Strike-Freedom ranges up close to eighty tons. Wing Zero is only about a tenth of that. And the biggest difference is in the weight of the armor. They use solid plates laminating a flexible core. That core isn't very thick either. The new design we're using has relatively thin layers of gundanium over cores made of five layers of thin gundanium honeycomb cores. We get strength _and_ flexibility when a surface is struck. They are relying on the solid mass of the armor to do the job. Can you imagine the performance of Yamato's suit if he wasn't dealing with so much mass?"

G gave the idea some thought, letting the images from the battle play in his mind as he attempted to adjust them for such a significant reduction in energy consuming mass. And the truth was, they'd have to tone down the power plant or no one would be able to handle the suit. The reaction time would be too fast and the vector changes too abrupt for a human body to compensate for.

"I wouldn't mind getting hold of that energy armor they use as well." J waved his coffee cup at the room, eyes unmistakably focused inward. "Whatever it is, it seems to be how they provide their units with their individual color patterns too."

G snorted. "Now that would be very useful. Listening to Maxwell moan every time something scratches his 'buddy' is annoying. At least he'd stop crying over anything but actual damage!"

J could only grin. He'd listened to all five of the boys whenever their machines took any damage. They _all_ got upset. Duo was just the most vocal about it. But in actual truth, he rather listen to Shinigami reassuring his Gundam that all would be made well than having the Dragon rage about those who dared touch his beloved Nataku. At least Yuy and Barton did their 'talking' mostly in furious glares at the damages as they repaired them. Winner, although he talked almost as much as Maxwell, kept his voice down as he was speaking only to his Sandrock, not the whole hanger. It was interesting though, just how much all of them seemed to see the huge machines as almost living partners, how deeply they _cared_ about them.

"They've come a long way, J."

The other man just nodded. "Too much of it is a long way backwards though. I'd had a delusion once that if they did survive, they'd find places and begin to grow as human beings. I thought if they could survive the war and our ham-fisted mishandling of their lives, they would be able to survive anything else life could throw at them. But while they did build lives, they were rather stunted ones and none of them was really happy. Now, they've been dragged back into war and back together. Yet now they're much closer to happy than I've ever seen them before."

The coffee mug was set gently on the table before he asked a very unexpected question. "G, what should we do about those god-damned implants?"

The other sat quietly, gently putting his own mug on the table with a particular deliberateness that spoke volumes for the thought he'd also been giving the question. They both knew the boys suspected they were there, they had too much of that alien 'safehouse' wired not to have picked up on that. The damn things had been so wrong in the first place. But given his control of both the money and the supply of gundanium, it hadn't been possible to tell Dekim no. Any more than it had been possible to avoid the other things he'd ordered done to achieve his own mad goals. It was pathetic, but the only real independent action they'd been able to take was to encourage the five stubborn pilots to take their machines and rewrite Operation Meteor to their own specifications.

"What can we do about them, J? We aren't medical doctors. You know how they were installed; do you honestly want to even _try_ to touch them now? Besides, where would we do the work? It isn't like we have a fully staffed hospital to hand here." G pointed out quietly.

J's eyes were haunted, a fascinating sight in a man who wore artificial oculars. "They're deteriorating. We can't just leave them in the boys."

G grunted and looked away. "Noticed Barton's behavior have you then?"

"It's impossible to miss," J replied softly. "The alternating pattern of desire and rejection is getting very slowly but very steadily more pronounced. The other four are stable at the moment but if Barton cracks, they'll all come apart now. They're too interdependent; the damn thing is _leaking_ G!"

"I know."

"Well I'd appreciate some thoughts on the matter!"

"My best, actually my only, idea is to get them removed by people with the skill to do it safely."

"And just who would _that_ be?"

G picked up his mug and took a long drink of the cooling coffee before he answered. "We need to find out what the Coordinators would take in trade for that too."

J's head snapped up. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, and you know it," G grimaced. "There is no one else we can turn to. Crimson Dawn has almost completely driven the Preventers from space and into deep hiding on Earth. And they would be the only people we could trust with this information. Their doctors, well Sally Po really, would be the only one we could allow to touch the boys. And she simply isn't accessible and won't be for months yet. Barton may be the only one showing open signs of the breakdown of his implant but you know they were designed to fail, that they were old Dekim's ace in the hole, his last card to keep them under his control. Cutting a deal with the Coordinators, and their highly skilled medical personnel, is the only chance we've got now."

J stared at him. "All right, suppose you can get it discussed. What could we possibly offer in trade for that?"

G toyed with his coffee mug for several minutes before he answered slowly. "Have you watched any of the data we've been picking up besides the news?"

"Not really, there just isn't time to keep up with it all and work on those machines if we plan to get them operational before the next century."

"Well, I have. And I ran across one that pretty clearly was intended for a rather select audience. Thanks to your sharing the data on what was done to alter Heero, I actually understood what the subject was although I won't pretend I could follow most of the arguments. Alien terminology aside, I'm no geneticist and the speaker was a specialist in the field. But I did get the gist of his presentation. J, the Coordinators need new blood. It seems they can't really reproduce outside of a highly specialized medical lab. Oh, there are extremely rare exceptions but the vast majority are the products of direct, individual manipulation of the fertilized zygote. And their gene pool is limited by that very manipulation. Because apparently a lot of those manipulations are mutually exclusive and you can't pair two individuals who are too far apart. They've been forced to regulate their marriages based on genetic compatibility! The interests of the two people involved appear to be quite secondary to the society's need for another generation. They're getting by with immigration from Earth right now but the immigrants are as over-manipulated as the existing Coordinator genetic stock and so aren't all that much use for solving their ultimate problem."

J blinked at him. "Where are we going to get suitable genetics to offer them? They aren't even human! Well, at least not on our genetic level."

"Oh but they might be," G said quietly. "I know just enough about the field to recognize that their DNA helix looks so close to ours that I can't tell where the differences are. I would be shocked out of my mind if we actually were mutually reproductive but there is an excellent chance if they cut it apart to use individual genes that we just might have a lot to offer them. And I've thought about this enough to have checked out what's left of the infirmary here. The whole blood stocks are safely frozen and come from at least a hundred different individuals. It isn't germ plasm but it is complete genetic material. So yes, we do have 'trade goods' for this."

The coffee seemed to have developed an intense interest for J. He simply sat staring at it for some unnumbered count of minutes. When he did look up, his face was very still.

"We really don't have much of a choice do we? With Barton's already failing the others won't last much longer either. And while he never admitted it, you and I both know he planted a fairly powerful hallucinogen in the center of that damn thing. He intended the whole to be a fail-safe means of getting them to destroy themselves if they were somehow lucky enough to outlive their usefulness to him."

G pursed his lips for a second, then nodded sharply. "Yes, I do believe he added the hallucinogen. So, how do you want to open these negotiations? Because I damn well don't want to tell Quatre enough to have him do it!"

J shrugged. "We'll have to do it. This isn't something we can even tell Zechs. So we'd better hope he, Relena, and Quatre do very well indeed in their opening efforts because I don't think we're going to have a lot of time to work with here."

G could only snort in agreement.

* * *

The only connection he'd made had been one to the mainframe. Any others might, no almost certainly, would be damaging to his mobile suit. As it was, he'd had to do a discouraging amount of tweaking before his suit's computer could talk to the aging and unstable mainframe safely.

Between the scavenger teams hacking, the Serpent Tail's work, and now the intrusions of their new visiting aliens, the poor old system was on the verge of failure. Someone was going to have to actually sit down and fix the thing in the very near future or this was going to be another dead colony. And given what there was here to find, Kira didn't know if he wanted it to collapse or be rescued.

However, inasmuch as he didn't think it was honestly his decision to make, he proceeded with serious care. All his work was focused on getting the data he needed without causing any more damage at all. And as he gently worked his way into the system, he found himself doing some of the many, many minor repairs the whole so critically needed just to safely gain the access he required.

As he worked, he kept one screen on the negotiations going on in the lounge. They were going nowhere really but everyone was being very civil about it and he wasn't seeing any signs of real strain anywhere yet. He plunged ahead as quickly as he could, all too aware that his absence was being timed. Sooner or later, someone was going to come looking for him, and here in Strike-Freedom was the first place he expected them to check.

Having super-administrative rights on the entire system sped up the search immeasurably. Because of the exhaustive work he'd put in when he'd given himself these rights, now he just bypassed well over ninety percent of all the defensive safeguards without even noticing them. Almost all of the rest yielded to his administrator's code immediately. Things did get a bit more interesting though when he ran into locks that did not open so readily.

'Picking' several of those taught him to recognize which ones were most likely set by Serpent Tail's expert and which by someone else. He took to ignoring the Serpent Tail locks, it really wasn't likely what he wanted was going to be behind one anyway. The others he opened on general principals. Then, very deep in the security system he hit a whole new kind of lock.

He poked at it a bit and suddenly smiled grimly. This had Heero Yuy written all over it. It was blank faced, over-armed, slyly intelligent, deadly complex, and would blow up in his face if he didn't do this perfectly. Just like the alien pilot, as described by his own friends. He settled back in his seat to do some very delicate and damned serious hacking.

Ten minutes later, Kira caught a bit of luck. The lock was a savagely multipart thing that was going to take significant time to get through. He'd just given the general area a quick once-over more to see how much it looked like he was going to have to go through than anything else. And there it had been, an obvious backdoor into the main program. So he cautiously tried it.

He found himself inside a series of interconnected programs. A bit of study told him they were designed to control and prevent the spread of the effects of a specific set of actions by a defective section of code in the mainframe. A bit more poking at it and he realized Yuy had installed a series of cascading trap programs to prevent the mainframe from making those annoying random broadcasts on the emergency channels. Thank you Captain Yuy!

Once he understood the nature of the programs he was exploring, Kira turned his attentions to their security from the inside. In less than five minutes he knew Yuy was, if not quite his equal as a programmer, still uncomfortably close. And he was a _lot_ more defensive than Kira generally was. Even something as inoffensive as these trap programs had been given protection the ZAFT generally didn't bother with on anything below security level Bravo.

He backed out the way he'd come in, no longer so sure he was going to be able to get the data they needed. He'd been gone over an hour; they'd be sending someone to find him any time now. He chewed his lip thoughtfully. He didn't have the time to spend cracking Heero's locks to see what he'd stashed behind them, not when he'd use security like that on something so minor. It was time to try another approach.

A Gundam was not a storehouse but Kira had a tendency to keep some things in a few places in Strike-Freedom anyway. His medical kit for example wasn't the standard issue one. He kept two uniforms and a set of civilian clothes stowed in here as well. There were extra rations and bottled water in places one would not expect to find them too. And he had a complete copy set of his hacking discs along with a full dozen blanks for 'data acquisition', more than enough to copy some small towns' entire libraries.

A quick sort through the hacking discs located the one he thought might do the job. It was the work of moments to enter it and it didn't take much longer to 'introduce' it to both Yuy's lock and his trap programs. It was a highly specialized search program, one that could be 'taught' to recognize a style of workmanship and then sent out to search for more of the same and other work that struck it as being in the same 'family'. Since all it did was identify and locate the work, it was very fast to report back. Within two minutes of being released into the mainframe, it had given Kira over three dozen specific targets to investigate with more piling up rapidly.

He waited until the searcher hadn't given him a new possibility for ninety seconds before he slid the next disc in. This one would sort the finds by degree of security attached to them. From some of the things said in that first discussion last night, Kira had an idea that perhaps the first work done on Mendel's mainframe might not have been Yuy's. He wanted to take a look at the stuff that didn't have Heero's signature all over it first. Merquise had admitted someone else had set up this hideout for them. There was a good chance they'd set up the language programs too.

He found eighteen that showed no signs of Heero Yuy's input. Four of them were older than all other programs related to the alien visitors. Two were inactive, one was being updated irregularly and one was being updated almost continuously. He smiled grimly, yes; this was where he wanted to start. He began with the smallest one.

The program was protected by a simple password. Well, that and being buried in among the early reports of the colony's Department of Sanitation. The other three files he was interested in were imbedded in similar unlikely to be touched spots as well. It took him less than two minutes to come up with the password for this one.

He found himself watching the odd old man who'd taken the n-jammer cancellers. As Kira watched, he was going methodically through the area the aliens were now occupying. If this wasn't an orientation presentation, the Coordinator would eat it. He slid a blank disc into place and just copied it. He could review it in depth later.

The second inactive file proved to be a history of his own universe. It had some amazing gaps in it and he was fascinated by where the people who'd assembled it had elected to put their emphasis a few times. But it was also pretty long and he didn't have time to watch all of it either. So he put it on the blank as well and went on to the one being irregularly updated.

Within seconds of cracking it open, Kira knew he'd found what he was looking for. This was the translation program. He didn't bother to listen to any of it, he just copied it to three of his blanks. Yzak and Dearka would each be getting one, which should both assure it got back to the Plants and make his wary Commander a lot happier about dealing with these people.

The fourth file however proved to be a gold mine. These were newscasts and other reports from the other universe! Here was the information the visitors were getting that was keeping them informed on how things were going back home. And even without being able to understand a word of it, Kira could see they were coming from sources biased two distinctly different ways. So they were smart enough to listen to what their enemy was saying as well as what their own people thought. His regard for their intelligence rose.

Kira was about to reach for another blank when a sensor on the board in front of him began to blink. He looked up. The main bay door was beginning to open.

Shit! He'd gotten so wrapped up in this he'd forgotten about Yuy! A glimpse of movement on his screen directed his attention to the gantry and Duo Maxwell. That wasn't the friendly loudmouth moving so quickly and gracefully toward the bay where Yuy would be parking his mobile suit in a couple minutes. This looked a lot like it might be the other persona, the one Kira wasn't so anxious to meet if he didn't have to.

He changed his plans instantly. He didn't have time to copy this stuff. Instead, he slid another of his hacker discs in. The program on it latched onto that file and added itself to it. The program would copy and encrypt each of those reports and the mainframe would transmit them to any of the probes that had survived the battle. The probes would relay the data back to his mobile suit. And while none of the units they'd dropped here at Mendel may have survived, the one over by Curie Colony probably had.

He grabbed his 'duster' disc, as he thought of it, and it went to work sweeping all signs of his explorations. These people were probably just what they claimed to be but then, they claimed five of them to be former terrorists. Kira honestly didn't think Yuy would appreciate discovering just how far into his people's data the Coordinator had gone. He did leave the evidence of his picking at that cascading trap setup though. Somehow, he doubted they'd think he'd just been sitting here all this time. He'd rather they had something fairly innocent to find. They might stop looking if they did; he'd noticed they had a rather high regard for the Captain's skills. And he hadn't actually broken the locks. It should boost a few egos that they'd kept the local hacker out.

As a precautionary afterthought, he added the theft program to the language translation files as well. Better safe than sorry. Only then did he put all his discs back into secure storage.

Kira shifted his attention to another set of sensors altogether. These were his official reason for being out here. And they were his perfect excuse for being in the Mendel mainframe in the first place. After all, the scanners on a mobile suit, even one as good as Strike-Freedom, were limited compared to what a colony boasted. His suit's scanners couldn't even hope to reach the incoming rescue teams, let alone give him a count of their numbers and a solid estimate of their time of arrival.

While they hadn't seen serious human maintenance in decades now, the old colony long range scanners were still in amazingly good shape. He found an odd lump in his throat as he realized there were ten ships racing back here. ZAFT had sent all seven _Nazca_s. The Alliance had sent two _Nelson_s. But the one that mattered to him was the one leading them all. The _Kusanagi_ was two hours ahead of the rest and putting more distance between them by the minute. Kisaka had to be either worried in his own right or hearing from Cagalli to be pushing that hard.

Then his eye registered an eleventh ship. This one was just clearing the atmosphere and the trajectory of her path proved she'd unmistakably launched from Aube. His hands tightened on the mobile suit's controls. _Archangel_, that was the _Archangel_!


	21. Chapter 21

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 21 Reactions

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Well, this _is_ less than two months. Just. Honest, coming home and getting some writing done would be _so_ much easier if _ALL __**3**_ of the major software programs I have to use at work would **STOP MAKING LIKE ROADKILL!!!!!!!!!!!!** Stress some anyone?

* * *

Commander Hannam stepped briskly through the hatch that connected _Purity_ to the docking port of Leadership One. He forced himself to pretend the pretentiousness of the names didn't bother him. Actually, they pissed him off more than anything else. The names had been intended for much more impressive units than a ship barely larger than a glorified gunboat or an orbital platform less than a fifteenth the size of a PLANT! They were a very, very pointed reminder of just how far Blue Cosmos had fallen in the aftermath of the second war.

Still, at the moment they weren't his problem. He barely paused long enough to acknowledge the base commander's salute before he strode quickly down the hallway toward the small shuttle that would get him quietly down to Earth. Behind him he could hear the man begin his report to Crystal; the resentment not quite as well hidden in his voice as Albert was sure the man thought it was.

And that wasn't his problem either, at least not at the moment. Besides, the man knew his sister better than that. Only an idiot tried to pull the male superiority trick on her on a _good_ day. All the gods of history knew today didn't even remotely qualify as a _passable_ day! He deserved what he was going to get.

He boarded the small craft to find a complete set of briefing papers laid out at his seat, the eight folders neatly caught under an elastic band on the broad tray top. Three different colored pens for making margin notes were tucked under their own short strip set comfortably near on the right hand side. Two zero-g drink bulbs and an assortment of zero-g safe snacks were arrayed in a secured basket to the right of his seat. Someone was thinking ahead here and wanted their commander in as good a mood as they could get him. He wondered if it was for a favor or just something on the line of general principals.

Whatever the reasoning behind it, he was not going to look this gift horse in the mouth. He gave the shuttle crew a courteous nod, slid into the seat, and fastened the harness that would keep him secure even if the small craft had to take the most violent evasive actions. It would be a bit before they had his luggage transferred so he pulled out the first of the folders.

It had no title. None of them did any more. He couldn't prove it but he suspected a foolish habit of labeling these analysis folders and leaving them on desks had made a notable contribution to the destruction of LOGOS and the present reduced state of Blue Cosmos. It really wasn't all that smart to make it easy for spies but in their arrogance and blindness both organizations had failed grievously when it came to security during the Second Valentine War. It was a failure he was doing his level best not to repeat. That was why there was an armed guard standing beside the tray after all.

This first one came with a brief note and was nothing more than a quick overview of the Mendel battle. It had very little to add to what he'd seen for himself really. It broke it all down into neatly digestible bits but that was about all. Major Roman did however have connections in the rescue fleet and could promise more detail when the ships got to Mendel.

Hannam nodded wearily. Yes, there would be more detail. It wouldn't be likely that there would be much more useful detail though. The _Kusanagi_ was going to be the first ship there and the ZAFT _Nazca_s would be there second. Between them, they would be very careful of what they let any Alliance ship see. He put a small tick mark on the jacket and slid the report back in place before he pulled the second one out.

He was deep into the current analysis of the manpower resources available to the organization as a whole when he felt the small jolts and shivers that indicated the shuttle was beginning to uncouple from its docking berth. When the familiar pattern continued with no unusual interruptions, he let himself ignore it. They had been in space for some time before he finished and set it thoughtfully to one side.

A search through the other six quickly found the report on the Eurasians that he was interested in. Just how he was going to allocate some of their manpower resources was going to depend on what might be changing as the Chinese took greater control of the Federation. He hadn't liked any of these so called 'new men' that he'd met so far and he didn't expect to like any more of them now. The report did not disappoint him. It appeared that at least some of the more remote offices were growing backbones again. This was far more honestly worded than most he saw. He was beginning to make notes on both reports to allocate personnel and direct political action when the cabin steward handed him a message that had the potential to change every priority he had.

Aube had launched the _Archangel_.

* * *

"Captain!" The low, tense call came from the comm officer and arrested Yuki Hartono's attention instantly; there were very few things that rated that tone from Pierson. Her cold-blooded communications officer, whose face so did not match his name, feared almost nothing and respected very little more. There has been both fear and respect in that call.

"Juri?" She asked softly as she leaned over his shoulder to eye his boards quickly.

"I just picked up a transmission. It was sent to _Kusanagi_."

"I really don't want to play twenty questions here," she warned.

Black eyes turned to her, burning savagely. "It came from _Archangel_. She's outbound to the Moon to pick up her Captain, Mobile Suit Commander, CIC, First Officer, and Captain Zala. She's going to meet the Mendel rescue ships at Aprilius One. And Captain, Cagalli Yula Athha is aboard."

Yuki froze. _Archangel_, the _Archangel_ was back in space. Picking up her full compliment of experienced and lethally effective officers. With the Chief Representative aboard to authorize anything and everything instantly. How had Terasawa known this would happen? No wonder she'd ordered the diaspora!

"You have a clean copy of this I presume?" She managed to ask evenly.

The man nodded grimly. "Yes Captain. I don't think we have all of it but I'd lay fairly long odds on having the meat of it."

She just nodded and accepted the small disc the comm officer offered her. She didn't have to tell him to keep monitoring any transmissions to or from that ship; the man valued his own life far too well to make any such idiot's mistake. Nor did she waste time ordering him to keep silent. With the three ships still active and the cutter coming on line, he wasn't the only comm watch-stander and at least twenty percent of their personnel had private equipment that was capable of picking up that transmission. Someone would have heard it and word would spread, fast. Yuki simply headed for Captain Terasawa's office; how the Vulture Fleet handled this was going to be her decision.

Ilene looked tired when she entered the office. Yuki almost blinked. It had been years since she'd seen the other woman permit pure, physical fatigue to show so plainly. She was so very conscious of just how much appearance affected people's reactions; she usually maintained rigid control of what people were allowed to see and when they were allowed to see it.

"You have something for me?" Ilene's eyes were as focused as ever despite their weariness.

She held out the disc. "It seems Aube is getting very serious about something. They've sent up the _Archangel_. From what we've intercepted, she's going to the Moon to pick up her people and then to the PLANTs to meet the rescue fleet they expect to be getting back there about the same time from Mendel. Athha is with them."

"Shit!"

"Agreed."

Terasawa took the disc and popped it into her computer. They listened to the brief exchange between the ship and Onogoro Island Command together. There was really nothing there beyond what they already knew. Even the inflections in the voices told them nothing new. Ilene insisted on listening to it three times through but if there was something to be gained in that effort, she kept that to herself. Finally she just turned it off and leaned back in her chair.

"Oh, hell!"

Yuki let one eyebrow rise. Given that tone, it was safer to ask the question silently. Her friend and leader just gave her a dirty glare.

"We need to move up our timetable," Terasawa said grimly. "We have to get our people out of here as quickly as we can and the ships into hiding. I honestly don't know why they've sent her up and that bothers me. I can usually read a situation well enough to make at least an informed judgment call but having Athha aboard throws this completely out of whack. What the _hell_ do they need her around for if they're pirate-hunting, eh? What the hell else would you send _that_ ship out here to do? This makes no _sense_!"

Yuki Hartono frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I can only think of one thing but I don't see where Athha fits in with it unless they're just dropping her off at the PLANTs to hold a pow-wow with Clyne."

She looked up, eyes flatly serious. "I don't know what kind of science facilities the _Archangel_ might have but she's rumored to have one damn fine sensor suite. And Nobi picked up that strange, gold radiation shortly after the main explosion that seems to have been the end of the ambush. He couldn't get much of a reading on it from here but you remember he said he couldn't identify it. Maybe it really was something new. If I was Aube, that's the ship I'd sent to check out something like that."

Terasawa was looking at her like she'd been trying to breathe hard vacuum. "What? You honestly think Napci really _had_ some new propulsion system on the _Saucy Annie_?"

Yuki shrugged uncomfortably. "I honestly don't know. But, Ellie, someone had something weird aboard! And it reacted very, very strangely to whatever Yamato hit it with. You know and I know that George was a fool but he was also the only one making any claims to having anything new and different on any of his ships."

The commander of the Vulture Fleet scowled angrily. She clearly wanted to deny the whole idea. She just as clearly couldn't. The evidence wouldn't allow a dismissal out of hand even if it didn't support the claim either.

"Fine then," she growled. "We'll check that too while we look for the Blue Cosmos bases."

Terasawa stood up, the earlier weariness shoved almost completely out of sight. "Get your senior people together and let them know officially that _Archangel_ is back in space. Then let them know they need to get a new, accelerated timetable for getting the ships mothballed and everyone out of here. We can't afford to take three or four months. I'm not sure we can afford that many weeks. I want the best they can come up with nine hours from now."

She stared, eyes unfocused at the far bulkhead. "We may or may not actually be part of their mission plan Yuki but we both know they wouldn't pass us by if they stumble on us."

The dark eyes focused diamond sharp again on her. "And send Moto here. We need to step up getting the _Hatchling_ ready too. She can't be here when _Archangel_ leaves the PLANTs. We're just too close and their record of finding things by accident is too good. Once the reactor comes online, I'd have had to launch within twenty-four hours or risk bringing ZAFT down on us anyway. With that ship around, I think we should cut the launch window to twelve hours or less."

Yuki glowered angrily. "Captain, I frankly question just how good the _Archangel_'s equipment really is. Honestly, if you listen to all the stories, they've got gear that hasn't even been invented yet!"

Ilene Terasawa just smiled grimly. "Truth? It doesn't honestly matter what their gear is like. Not when they have the kind of luck with it they do. And Yuki, there is no sign luck is ready to leave that ship any time soon."

Oh, yeah, luck. And theirs was too clearly waning. It would be real stupid to forget that.

Shit.

Captain Hartono nodded quietly and left the cabin; she had people to find and orders to pass.

* * *

"Miss Clyne?"

Lacus looked up wearily at the soft call. Shiho didn't look any better than Lacus felt but the other young woman was stronger than half the idiots on the Supreme Council. She hadn't spent what passed for the morning shouting stupid things or making idiotic suggestions. Really, they were supposed to be adults! _Dearka_ at his sarcastic worst was a model of restraint and maturity next to some of them.

At least they were all off with their various committees right now. Maybe they'd even get some useful results from those meetings. It _had_ looked like they were mostly over the screaming and starting to focus when the Council had dismissed.

"Hello, PLANTs to Lacus! You with us?" Shiho smiled.

Lacus smiled back. At least one of them was back to the point where they could at least fake humor. Meyrin had managed to go back to FAITH headquarters. She was holding down the office there with the help of Voril Joule and Adrian Ito. It gave the two Commanders something to do that needed doing and kept them out of everyone else's hair while they waited for more answers from both the Moon and Mendel.

"I'm right here Shiho," Lacus told her gently.

"Dean Koudelka is asking if you might have some time when she could speak to you." Shiho's face was suddenly quite neutral. "She didn't outright say anything but, well, I've seen the stuff that crossed Yzak's desk. And just looking at her, she's nervous. Kira's reasons for getting Dearka and I those new mobile suits weren't the only ones he had for it either. I think she's got some new information."

One eyebrow rose slightly. "The Dean is here? Right now?"

Shiho nodded curtly. "Yes."

Lacus reached to tap the comm that would give her the Security desk. "This is Lacus, is Commander Dietrich available?"

"Dietrich here." The reply crackled as someone unmistakably crushed something that sounded suspiciously like a potato chip bag.

"Dean Koudelka is here and I will be in a meeting with her for a bit. If any important data develops, please call ahead." Which as good as told the man she was going to be discussing very high level secrets.

"Yes Ma'am!"

A call to her outer office assured the meeting would be uninterrupted. Shiho arranged for a light meal to be sent in and included strong coffee in it at Lacus' request. For the Chairwoman of the PLANTs would be very surprised if this wasn't going to take time to go over. The Dean wasn't the kind of woman to come to the Council offices unannounced without very, very good reason. And Lacus was almost positive she knew what had brought her here.

"I'll go back to the office and help Meyrin." Shiho said quietly as she slid the rather well-laden tray onto the small table. "I'm sure she's all right; with both Voril and Ito there she has plenty of backup, but I don't know how much experience any of them have had with dealing with the press."

Lacus shook her head. "I'd rather you stayed. If the Dean is bringing the information I think she is, well, Yzak will appreciate your viewpoint on it when he gets back."

Shiho looked up sharply. Lacus simply looked back. Information was exchanged without words and the Lieutenant went to escort the Dean.

The older woman looked both harried and relieved. Lacus offered the food and coffee but was not surprised when they were waived aside. Nor were the discs the Dean laid on the table unexpected.

"They're alive, Lacus," Svetlana Koudelka said very quietly. "And they had help."

"When did this arrive?" She asked softly.

"About an hour ago. There was a good deal of interference between our station and the L4 colony cluster but I doubt that was the real issue."

Both younger women looked intently at her, silently demanding the story.

She took a deep breath, picked up the topmost of the discs and slid it into the waiting slot in the table-top unit. "We didn't lose all the probes released at Mendel just before the battle started. Would you like to see how it really ended?"

Lacus watched, her heart beating painfully, as the battle she's seen in broken but surprisingly complete detail earlier played out again from a single, shockingly close viewpoint. The blind folly of the attackers in their final strike was even more obvious in this presentation than it had been from the colony's perspective. The probe had chanced to be in a position to record the fight from almost exactly the same plane as the fatal attack. It made it easy to see the two pirates who'd clearly come to their senses at the last moment as they managed to frantically claw their way clear of the instant destruction that swept all others into it's maelstrom.

Unlike the pirates, who seemed to stagger about for the first, critical minutes, the probe did not appear to have taken any damage from the terrible detonation. Space was capricious that way. With no air to create a blast front, anything that wasn't actually struck by flying debris went completely unaffected by the destruction. So it was easy to see Kira and Dearka towing Yzak to safety too.

The probe picked up several audio transmissions as well. The Dean had already set them up to play in a definite order, one that allowed surprising clarification of the limited action they could see at first. It was a bottomless relief to know Yzak was not seriously injured. Lacus and Shiho suddenly smiled at each other as he snapped a truly foolish order to Kira never to give him a negative report. Oh, yes, Yzak was going to be just fine.

Then a brand new voice, one with a marked accent said cheerfully, "That Yzak guy's a grouch."

"He's injured," Another new voice, with a different but equally marked accent replied gently. "How cooperative is Heero when he's hurt?"

Lacus' hand tapped the pause and she looked very quietly at the Dean. "They watched?"

"Let it play Lacus." The dark eyed woman replied softly. "You need to see the rest. They did more than watch."

She obeyed, and stared as the sense of what the strangers were saying penetrated. They didn't understand what they'd seen, not really. And it was crystal clear that they didn't really know what a Coordinator was either. But they were just as clearly experienced enough with mobile suits to grasp how far beyond simply 'good' Kira was.

She was sharply intrigued by the deep, hard voice the others called 01, who wanted to capture Kira, Dearka and Yzak. This one understood at least something of what he was dealing with and wanted to make sure it didn't bite him. It surprised her that the other two had the good sense to recognize that they couldn't do it for him. She was much more used to Naturals underestimating Kira than to the idea some of them might know when to back off; and these were aliens as well!

She let her consideration wander from the screen as she glanced at Shiho as events now almost two days old continued to play out. The other sat tensely but silently as she listened closely to what was being said and matched it to what little she could see being done. There was deep concern but no panic and Lacus permitted herself a small smile. One Yzak Joule might not know it yet but he was not going to be single much longer. Shiho Hahnenfuss was _not_ going to let that young man go wandering off without her again. Then her attention was jerked back to the recording as the voice called 04 suddenly started snapping orders.

"04 to 01! Mission compromised! Colony endangered! He's only going to be able to get one of them! You _must_ get the other!"

"Mission accepted," the hard voice snapped instantly.

In wide-eyed shock, Lacus watched Kira launch alone to deal with the remaining pirates. Then her eyes widened even further as another mobile suit launched from a point surprisingly close to where Kira had been. It was only as the white wings suddenly spread clearly that she recognized it. Fractions of a second later, death exploded in two directions as Kira and the stranger struck with perfect coordination.

She had expected the destruction Strike-Freedom created. She knew the power of Kira's suit and how much more there was to it than was generally ever seen. He so very rarely used everything in a single strike it was easy for most to miss the actual degree of danger the suit could pose to something her beloved really, really wanted to destroy. It was a mistake anyone who saw this would never make again.

But the destruction caused by the alien suit was even more complete. There simply _were_ no fragments of his enemies left. That golden beam, widening as it elongated, just removed everything in its path as though it had never been there at all. And that clear path ran out a long way indeed.

And when the lights on both sides died away, there was only an impossibly beautiful image left of two winged mobile suits guarding each other's backs, the colony safe below them.

Dean Koudelka was the one who paused the recording this time, letting Lacus and Shiho take in that amazing view. As the first shock began to recede, Lacus began to notice the similarities in the two suits. It really was rather shocking just how much they resembled each other, right down to some of their colors actually.

"Why two sets of wings?" Shiho muttered, staring intently at the picture.

"We don't know," Svetlana replied calmly. "They don't seem to carry weapons and while they are quite striking displayed like that, it doesn't seem to serve any combat-effective purpose."

Lacus gave a tiny snort. "Oh but it does. If you were in front of that unit, seeing it like that would be _very_ intimidating. Especially if you knew what that weapon could do."

"Ah!" Enlightenment clear in her voice, the Dean leaned closer to study the image again. "Yes, I see what you are saying. However, I doubt the wings are intended solely for that purpose. It just doesn't seem enough to justify them."

"Maybe they're primarily for atmospheric flight," Shiho said thoughtfully. "They look reasonably aerodynamic from here. I still don't see why you'd need two sets though."

"I am sure we will find out in time." The academician leaned back again just gazed considerately at the picture. "Are you ready for me to resume the playback?"

"Yes, I am." Lacus picked up one of the small sandwiches and began to nibble on it. She'd long ago learned that great shocks, like seeing the alien suit not only _here_ but _helping_ Kira, had a tendency to make her shaky. Balancing the blood sugar with food was the surest and fastest way she knew of to deal with the problem. It did not surprise her to see Shiho pick up another of the delicate sandwiches and begin nibbling herself.

She watched with intense interest as Kira's opening of the comm line let her see and hear what he did as well as the wider view that showed her all five of the alien suits. It was actually a shock to see just how human these visitors were to the eye. But it was a bigger shock to recognize one of them.

Heero Yuy; that was his name. Who had she been touching in that dream to have seen this man? He meant a great deal to someone, as much as Kira meant to her really. She studied all five of them but her eyes kept coming back to Yuy's intense dark blue gaze. Why? What was this curiosity about a complete stranger?

Then, as they turned to lead the way to their base she saw it. The pain and the loathing in the back of those eyes for what he had done. And she began to understand. He was a lot like Kira, who also hid the same pain and self-disgust while he did what only he could do to keep others safe.

"They're troubled people," Shiho said quietly. "They didn't want to tell anyone they were here. They don't want to spread their problems. Lacus, I think I like them."

She looked up with a small grin. "You just know that Duo guy is going to drive poor Yzak half insane."

Lacus smiled. "Yes, I believe he will."

She sobered, "Kira thinks he's a very brave man you know. He seems to be their scout. Well, you saw that almost-not-there image I showed Yzak and Athrun just before he left for Endymion. Kira said he couldn't imagine the kind of courage it took to sneak out to look around, never knowing if his invisibility was really working against our detection gear."

"I suspect we will find they are all brave beyond their home's norm," Dr. Koudelka said quietly. "Somehow, I doubt anyone of less than extraordinary courage would have dared step across that hole. I have more for you to review as soon as you can by the way."

"Why did it take so long for that probe to send the data back?" Shiho suddenly asked.

The academician smiled tightly. "When we set up these units, we set the record function to automatic. It began to collect data on its surroundings within fifteen seconds of being launched. But the send function isn't on automatic. That has to be externally triggered. We set it up that way to prevent it from flooding the launching ship's sensors."

"What triggered it?" Lacus enquired, head cocked in interest.

"Commander Yamato did that. He sent the trigger from his mobile suit, using Mendel Colony's secondary transmitter. He also set it to pass along data that he found in the mainframe." She smiled a bit grimly. "It seems the visitors have appropriated space on the mainframe for their use, intending to clear it when they leave probably. But at the moment, those files, active and inactive, are downloading into _our_ database at the Institute. And while I haven't had the chance yet to fully assess any of them, I can tell you one is a language translation file and another appears to be data they are receiving on current events back in their home space. We will know a great deal about them very shortly now."

Lacus looked up sharply. "Security?"

The Dean grinned, a rather cunning expression actually. "Miss Clyne, we're the Science Institute. We are drowning in secrets. We work with everything from experiments in deep space exploration to weapons development. What is a bit of data on extra-dimensional alien visitors in that mix?"

"That's not an answer," Lacus pointed out calmly.

"No," the older woman admitted quietly, "its not. Let me give you a very brief overview then. Each project maintains its own records. There is no central database. We do have a research database that is more or less open to all but that is the only shared database we have. Once a project has 'gone public', all sections of the research that are not classified are included in that public database. Until then, they are held inside their specific project and nowhere else. Most projects keep no more than a master record and a backup on-site and one secure off-site backup. A very special few, like this one, are so deadly sensitive that there is one stand alone machine holding the records."

Lacus gave Shiho an enquiring look which the other girl immediately recognized and answered. "You stand a better chance of breaking into the main computers of the Supreme Council and ZAFT Central Command than you do of getting into one of the Science Institute's sealed research pods."

The Chairwoman of the Supreme Council considered the current security as described and made a decision. "The data is too vulnerable to lose. Please find a way to generate a single backup copy and store it somewhere other than the PLANTs themselves. Someday, we may need the information again. We can not afford to have it lost if a single machine fails."

The Dean of the Science Institute considered the instructions and replied, "We have a secure facility hidden on the dark side of the Moon. Materials there are maintained on permanent storage media, not in computers, will that suit?"

Lacus nodded. "Excellent. Two different places, two different methods of storage. It should assure the preservation of the information from all but a monumental disaster."

"Now," she eyed the Dean gravely, "how do we explain away the remarkable destruction of that weapon of Mr. Yuy's?"

"I can answer that one." Shiho put in. "We don't. We just say something startling happened when Kira destroyed one of the pirates. And we don't admit to knowing a single thing about it beyond that."

"That's actually a rather smart move." Svetlana agreed, a slow grin spreading across her face. "Let someone else do the speculating. Unless Commander Yamato or one of the others is careless enough to actually say something specific, unlikely given the caliber of those young men, that non-story should stand. A lack of answers is occasionally more convincing than having them ready to hand, especially when what everyone wants explained is something truly unique."

Lacus nodded. "Then we will take the simple way out and admit to ignorance for once. I think I will rather like being able to say 'I don't know' and ending the interview there."

"We'll hope the press cooperates then." The Dean tapped the table unit and removed the disc. "The rest of these are very interesting but not in our language really. One is largely understandable with concentration as it is a translation record. I currently have it running in my private lab in an effort to set it up in reverse, translating their words into our language so we can translate the rest of the data. The other three discs are an orientation for their current hideout, a very interesting view of our history with some startling gaps, and, most significantly, what appears to be a running series of reports, news pieces, and propaganda bits inept enough to have been made by Blue Cosmos. It has given me at least some feel for what has driven them here."

Lacus looked up sharply and Svetlana did not disappoint her. "They are survivors of a legitimate government. I would say the government probably did have some very significant corruption issues; the revolutionary's heavy handed propaganda is simply unmistakable on that. Still, given the visuals in the less polished of the news reports, and I do think the lower quality reports belong to the currently losing side, I think the replacement government may be much worse. Their people are continuing to resist despite what is an unmistakably vicious response on the part of the revolutionaries. I am guessing here but given that they came over with those mobile suits, I would judge that they are somehow either directly or symbolically overwhelmingly important in the battle. They are so vital they can not afford to allow them to fall into enemy hands. So they have removed them from that chance. We will have to speak to them to understand the rest of it."

Lacus often wondered just where the discussion might have gone from there if they hadn't been interrupted. The soft but insistent chime could not be ignored. It was Security calling and they wouldn't be disturbing this meeting for anything trivial.

She tapped the comm and asked, "Is there a problem Commander Dietrich?"

The man gave her a look that spoke volumes for his own uncertainty. "I'm not really sure, Madam Chairman. But we've just received a transmission from the Aube Ambassador. It appears they have launched the _Archangel_. She is outbound to the Moon to pick up those of her command staff who were attending the aborted dedication at Endymion. Chief Representative Athha is aboard. The Ambassador has forwarded Representative Athha's request for a very low key meeting with yourself and such others as you may wish to attend to discuss the issue of piracy and the attack at Mendel."

He hesitated, then added slowly, "Apparently not all the equipment on the base they had up there was destroyed when the pirates took it. The Aube are offering to share that data."

Lacus was nodding before he'd quite finished. "Of course. Please see to it that the Council is informed that Representative Athha will be coming to see her brother. We all have firm faith that Commander Joule, Commander Yamato and Wing Elsman will be found alive after all. I would be pleased to have a first hand report on Endymion as well so I hope those of the staff who were there would consider coming with the Representative. A meeting with those besides myself most concerned about the pirate risks should also be discussed with the Ambassador before the Representative arrives."

"Yes Madam. When would you wish me to send in your Chief of Staff?"

Lacus looked over at Dean Koudelka to find the woman had gathered her things together. The four dangerous discs though were stacked neatly on the table. Shiho raised one eyebrow and at Lacus' nod, picked them up and tucked them safely into a pouch on her belt. The Dean gave them both a sharp nod of approval.

"Dean Koudelka must leave very shortly. Please inform Mrs. Risuli that I will need her assistance within the half hour."

"Madam!"

Dietrich cut the line from his end as he hastened to get the various balls rolling. Lacus and the Dean worked out an equally hasty system for getting the dangerous data out of the Science Institute and into her office. Once they had that settled, the older woman took her leave and the Chief of Staff entered. The busy day of the Chairwoman of the Supreme Council began to pick up speed.

* * *

The middle of the night was not Anne Une's favorite time to be awake. It was not her favorite time to be out hiking either. Hiking in the mountains in the dark was simply stupid. But that was a pre-war opinion. Right about now, it made a fairly insane kind of sense.

Crimson Dawn had an odd preference for daylight operations. They, like Oz before them, tended to leave the night to others. If you were a guerilla, this was a very fortunate thing. She shuddered whenever she considered how things would have gone for the Preventers if the Dawn had been anything close to as night-savvy as the old American Army had once been. They had ruled the night as much or more than they had the day. Any resistance force that had let its self get strung out along a narrow mountain track like hers was right now would have been snack food for the owl-sighted helicopters and their deadly guns. They were unbelievably lucky the most of the technology had been stupidly dismissed as out of date with the advent of mobile suits. There wasn't much of it left anywhere now to be used against them.

Even so, the largest part of the advantage the Preventer resistance had right now was the simple fact that for all its flash, thunder, and savagery, Crimson Dawn was still actually a small organization when one thought in terms of global government. They were actively recruiting right enough but really, at this moment they were in the process of attempting to conquer and _hold_ a planet and all the space colonies with less than six hundred thousand soldiers. The Dawn could field less than a thousand mobile suits too.

They would be able to manage this conquest only so long as they could project invincibility. Once something broke that illusion, they would discover they were ruinously short-handed for dominating the world. Unfortunately, General Une hadn't managed to find the needed illusion-breaker yet. Because for all that the enemy had so few soldiers and mobile suits, the Preventers had even less to work with. And with public opinion still leaning more to the Dawn than the Preventers, their efficiency was considerably lower than it would have been if the citizens had been helping them.

The Lady Une who had served General Khushrenada had held no great faith in the collective wisdom of the human race. The General Une who now commanded what was left of the Preventers actually had less regard for it than her younger self had had. But, and that but was so very real, once something convinced the human mass to truly believe a thing, then that mass could accomplish almost unbelievable things.

The Rational Revolution had not managed to achieve that popular conviction. All her hopes were pinned on that one fact. They were more popular than the Preventers solely because the Preventers still represented the old ESUN to far too much of the populace, not because the Revolution had won any 'hearts and minds'. There were situations where a side in a conflict was set so well that unless they threw it away, victory would be theirs. Anne Une knew neither side could claim that position yet. The Preventers had not yet lost. More importantly, the Dawn had not yet won. It was vital to keep that balance intact as long as she could, then, if fate was at all kind, tip things at least enough her way to make it possible to bring the Gundams back.

Which was the whole point of being out on this goat track in the dark in the first place. In the very first days of the war, she'd managed to get into a studio and record three eight minute messages for the public. They'd outlined what she knew of the Rational Revolution's real goals and the methods they would use to achieve them. And she'd reminded everyone that the Preventers did not work for any single political entity but for all the people of the Earth and the colonies.

Sent out over the Internet, those brief statements had made her something of an icon for the resistance. When those idiots in the Dawn had followed her predictions almost to the letter, it had given her tremendous credibility with that portion of the public that favored the Preventers. They had also forced most not outright dedicated to the Revolution to at least admit she'd told them the truth.

The value of those short presentations had been immeasurable for Preventer moral. They had also been seen as something at least a step above mere propaganda by the public. So she had gone out of her way to make more of them. It was dangerous, high risk work but the payoff was too high to ignore. So far, she'd only managed to get into one other studio and they'd not had time to record more than two more statements.

The Dawn might be spread thin but, unfortunately, it wasn't stupid. A significant part of the value of the presentations was their very high, professional quality. That quality said the speaker was a legitimate force with significant resources at her command. In practice, this limited her to making these short pieces in genuinely professional studios. And those with the truly top flight equipment needed to keep that confident, forceful image intact for the viewer, even over a third or forth class internet connection were relatively few and far between. That scarcity made it easier for the Dawn to guard them.

Yet, even though they watched like hawks, they couldn't be everywhere. For not all truly professional grade studios were business enterprises set in cities. A rare few belonged to very wealthy performers, who did their own masters at home and then sent them off to their contracted studios for reproduction and distribution. One such studio was in a very large chateau that would be going on the market only days from now.

The aging star who owned it had decided to base herself entirely in two major cities and leave the rural alpine beauty to someone with the youthful legs, lungs, and absurdly deep pockets to enjoy it. The star hadn't been to the chateau in five years, leaving it in the capable hands of a resident property manager. That man's grandson was the Preventer scout leading them tonight.

As she delicately worked her way around a jutting rock, Anne Une realized the dark mass she'd noticed earlier had far too regular lines to it to be anything natural. Major Fruehauf's hand on her elbow steadied her as she put a foot ever so slightly wrong and gravel rolled quietly, almost tipping her backwards until the man's grip tightened. She gripped his forearm back, letting him know she was steady again. His hand slid down to her wrist and he tugged gently.

The goat track abruptly opened onto a meadow that could only be called steepish rather than truly steep. The chateau was a black bulk against the starlit skyline, the outline poorly defined once it dropped below the land horizon. Much of the upper story was white but even that was hard to see in the bad light. It was clear though that it was a very large place, possibly the equal in pure size to the Khushrenada hunting lodge Treize had so loved.

"Sir," the scout's voice came softly, "the car's gone and the gatehouse is empty. Grandfather and Grandmother have gone to dinner and the opera as planned. The security systems are set but the camera for the door we need has a prerecorded tape being fed into it. So do the rest of the cameras on the lower floor. As long as we stay clear of the main stairs and are gone in four hours, we should be clear."

"Get the windows covered as quickly as you can then. And test those covers before you turn on any of the main lights! Any leaks may be seen for a very long way in these mountains." Fruehauf ordered quietly as the rest of the team slipped up to the building and crouched beside the walls.

There was a bench set beside the wall and General Une wasn't the only one to sag gratefully onto it. Really, manning a desk in a skirt and heels did not condition one to life on the run. Her back hurt, her legs hurt, her feet hurt, and her knees were killing her. Not to mention that her arms wanted to fall off from all the times she'd had to grab onto rocks to keep from falling several thousand feet down some mountain! Yet the sad truth was, this trip had been mostly made by car and truck. The hiking part had covered less than two kilometers. If she managed to survive this war, she was certainly going to be in much better physical shape than she'd been in when it started.

She didn't know how long she sat recovering but she doubted it was even fifteen minutes before the Major was back to tell her the windows and doors were light-sealed and it was time to go. As badly as she'd needed the rest, she was glad it hadn't been any longer. She was dangerously stiff already as it was.

It was one of the girls on the team who guided Une to the small bedroom probably used by either chateau staff or the assistants of a guest. But it was ideal for her very simple needs. It had a full bath and no windows.

She had to look the part of the professional leader of the Preventers when she made these short counter-propaganda pieces. One did not do that when one had the appearance of something the cat had dragged in, detouring through a particularly grubby mud hole on the way. Baths weren't something you really, honestly, truly appreciated in life until you couldn't get one. Moving from one safe-house to another, the plumbing always open to question and the concept of hot water often no more than a fond memory, she'd discovered this guerilla warfare game was a very dirty business in more ways than one. It had been harder to adjust to just plain being grubby almost all the time than it had to any other single thing.

The hot - really hot! - water of the shower was wonderful. And it did wonders for her aching body too. But time was not hers to waste no matter how splendid the water was. So she scrubbed as thoroughly as she could, paying particular attention to her face and hands, the two points that would really show on film. Because it was also important to the overall look, she did spend a few extra minutes letting a good conditioner soak into her abused hair but that was her only indulgence. She was clean, dry, dressed, and had her makeup on in just under half an hour.

She left the small bedroom, two of the team already scouring the bath to remove all traces of her visit as another tossed the used towels into a washing machine at the end of the hall. It would be the same in any space any of the team had even walked into. Two very brave people were risking their lives to give them this chance. The very least they owed them was to cover all their tracks.

Most of the first hour was gone by the time she reached the actual studio. Two more were spent setting up the three pieces she would be doing. The experienced production team, even cut to a minimum number of hands as they were, still had everything ready to record her portions and lay them onto the rest of the film to complete the shorts before they left.

Finally she was seated in a very good office chair with the Preventer five pointed pale blue star outlined in gold on a field of darker blue inside a circle of more gold at her back. Her uniform was spotless, her dress heels polished to a degree just below the level that would refract distracting flashes back under the brilliant studio lights. They had forty minutes to complete the recordings, do a final clean, pull the light covers off the windows and doors and get out of here.

Anne Une smiled warmly at the camera as the prompter began to scroll. "Citizens of Earth and the Colonies, I am General Une, Commander of the Preventers and I have information for you."


	22. Chapter 22

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 22 Trust?

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Well, have bought presents, given presents, gotten goodies, gone to the Twin Cities for New Year's and finished another chapter. Between that and staying employed, not too shabby if I do say so myself.

"Meyrin?" Voril Joule asked cheerfully. "Where do you want this box of stuff by Yzak's desk filed?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You know how he'll react if you accidentally put away something he though he was working on." Adrian Ito warned as he hefted a case of newly delivered copier paper off the cart and into the back of the small store room that sat between Joule's office and Shiho's.

"Oh, he's finished with everything in that box Commander." Meyrin waved a hand in the general direction of the files that lined one wall of the office. "I'll get you the keys for those. We aren't using most of them yet so you shouldn't have any problems figuring out what little there is to the system."

"Don't bother. You've got enough stuff to log in without worrying about keys I can get for myself. Just tell me where they are."

"Right," Meyrin nodded, happy to have help that didn't need all that much looking after. "They're in the right hand front tray in the center drawer of Shiho's desk then."

Voril fetched the keys while Adrian continued to unload a very mixed lot of office supplies onto the store room shelves and Meyrin went back out to the reception area to continue opening and logging in the supplies, some of which Yzak had ordered as much as a month ago. In as much as they were setting up the renewed FAITH almost from scratch, the pile was significant. Everything from paper to computers to silverware for the tiny galley in the break room was in the stack, or at least, it was supposed to be there. Because the Supreme Council had decided to seal all the records of the original FAITH, they'd had to order everything anew when they'd started setting up here in the new offices.

At least they weren't being badgered by the news services. With Yzak, Kira, and Dearka all on the missing list, apparently they hadn't considered there might be anyone left at FAITH headquarters to get a story from. None of the three working so diligently in the offices there were sorry to be overlooked and all were trying to keep things staying just this quite as long as they possibly could.

Knowing his cousin and his often straight line thinking, Voril tried the file cabinets closest to Yzak's desk first. His logic proved flawless as he found actual files in the first three and nothing in the next two he checked. The 'system' at the moment turned out to be the most basic of alphabetizing, making getting the small mountain of files they kept finding easy to put away. It was very obvious how much Yzak and Kira had been trying to get done before they were hauled off on that disastrous trip for 'escort duty'. When he'd finished, both desks were clear of their former piles of files, leaving only a neat handful that Meyrin had identified as important in each in-box.

He insisted the other two stop for lunch when they showed every sign of sticking to sorting the steadily shrinking mound of new supplies until they had it done. It proved to be a wise move as the three of them came back to it with renewed interest and energy afterwards. What was left of the pile didn't stand a chance against the three of them.

Voril was under a desk in an office that would be Dearka's eventually, setting up the newly arrived computer when he heard Adrian's shocked voice yelp, "What the fucking hell?"

Adrian Ito was very chary of overuse of profanity. He wanted it to mean something to the person he was addressing when he got sore enough to descend to that level. So Adrian swearing in shock was unusual enough to bring Voril rolling out from under the desk instantly.

He found Ito and Meyrin in Yzak's office, staring at his computer's virtual screen hovering over the desk. His cousin had it set so the image was only comprehendible from one side though so he couldn't tell what the problem was. Still, judging from the unbelievably wide eyes Ito was staring at it with, whatever this was had to be something very, very special.

"Adrian?" He asked, worried by the rigid stillness in his friend.

"I thought it was one of the games, he's got a lot of them in the box he's got in the back of the drawer." Ito said slowly. "Honest to shit, I thought it was a game!"

"What is it then?" Voril snapped as he hurried to join the other two.

"It's the footage from that warehouse theft, the one all the stupid rumors were about," Meyrin replied slowly. "I knew he had it, I've just never bothered to watch it. The Commander always made it seem like it was nothing."

She looked up, eyes frightened. "Commander, there's _a hole_ in the air! And someone's walking _through_ it! That can't happen!"

"Damn it," Shiho Hahnenfuss' voice snarled behind him, "can't you ever leave well enough alone, Commander!"

Voril ignored her, unsure if she was speaking to him or to Adrian. Besides, his eyes were glued to the record now in front of him as he leaned on the left arm of the chair Adrian occupied to stare at a homely old man in some kind of white lab coat who genuinely appeared to be pushing a loaded lift truck of some kind right through a 'hole' in the air! That was crazy enough. But it was the two and maybe-a-half mobile suits on the other side of that impossible hole that arrested his attention.

He studied them intently as Shiho and Adrian had some kind of discussion he didn't have enough spare attention to even listen to. He could see detail after detail that matched nothing he'd ever heard of in mobile suit construction before. The hole suddenly closed abruptly and completely as the recording flipped off, then started over again; his gaze never left the suits.

"What are they?" He breathed softly, almost afraid the old man would hear him.

But it was Hahnenfuss who heard the question. "You aren't authorized to know! Oh, this is a mess! None of you move! I'm going to call Lacus!"

The repeating film loop played three more times before it stopped. He was about to ask Adrian what he thought about the impossible bit they'd just seen when a new segment started. This was just an empty space shot over a colony that looked to be in pretty poor shape. It played once, then the resolution was jumped. It played again, but this time he got the distinct impression something was there. The resolution jumped a second time.

His eyes widened as he suddenly could make out what had to be a mobile suit moving from right to left across the screen. The image froze when the suit was centered in the frame. As he studied it, it occurred to him that this really looked like that black and gray suit from the first loop. The implications were giving him breathing issues. He continued to stare at it as this one too, replayed many times.

It was the completely unexpected voice of Adrian's wife that jarred him out of his hypnotized state. "Hi Shiho! Adrian's Second said he's over here. I seriously need to talk to him, you wouldn't believe the letter I just got from old Charlie!"

Voril looked up to see Kayla Ito, one infant in the chest carry pack, one in the back pack and the third on her hip, free hand holding the guide lines of the do-not-stray harnesses the two-year old twins were wearing. She had a rather wild look in her eyes. Whatever the old Native American shaman had sent her, it had thoroughly unnerved her. Considering the courage this woman had shown as both an Alliance mobile armor pilot and a Natural who married a Coordinator and moved to the PLANTs literally before there was a peace treaty at the end of the last war, whatever the sly old man had sent had to be as serious as the two pieces he'd just been watching.

"Kayla!" Adrian jumped to his feet, nearly knocking Voril over as he moved. "What's wrong?"

"Charlie," she said flatly, panting a bit for air, "Charlie says there are people from 'beyond' here! He says Grandmother of Bears told him there were visiting spirit guardians in our space! We're not supposed to interfere with them. In fact, she wants us to help them!"

Voril looked at now blank screen of the virtual monitor in front of him. Visiting guardian spirits? His eyes widened. THAT MOBILE SUIT WAS SOMEWHERE IN _THEIR_ SPACE?!?

"Grandmother of Bears told Charlie Yellow Dog there are aliens in the area and we're supposed to help them? Who's supposed to help? ZAFT? The PLANTs? Did that old goat give you _any_ hints?" Adrian asked quickly, whipping out from behind Yzak's desk to hurry over to take the baby off her hip.

"I brought the letter," Kayla fumbled her now free hand into the belt purse at her side to pull out a perfectly ordinary looking intersystem mail envelope.

Before she could hand it to her husband, Shiho's quick fingers snagged it. She had it open and was showing the envelope to Lacus on the vid screen. The Chairman of the Supreme Council was eyeing it very thoughtfully.

"Please read it," Lacus said quietly. "I've met the gentleman. He's not the kind to send that sort of message on a whim."

Shiho nodded and began, "Dear Kayla, I'm sending you this straight from Grandmother of Bears. It's a warning and an opportunity. There are strange guardian spirits watching visitors from somewhere beyond. No, I don't know beyond what, her word was just beyond. They are spirits of honor, worthy of respect in our place but they have not come to stay. If anyone sees them, I gather they'll look like they belong here. The only one she specifically mentioned was one that would look like Lion. It probably _is_ Lion in whatever 'beyond' they come from. Now, the strangers they guard will need help they can only get from the PLANTs. What they will offer in return will be things that will strengthen the PLANTs and eventually help keep peace between you orbitals and us ground-folk. If the PLANTs help them, their spears will stand with the PLANTs for a brief but vital time. It will be up to Thunderbird's Sons to decide if the PLANTs' spears will stand with the visitors when they need help in their turn. She was quite clear that there won't be any obligation to help but she flat out said that things would be for the better on both sides if someone does. The PLANTs are free to refuse but it will definitely make the peace here weaker, much weaker, if they do. She told me nothing more. I suggest you get this to Adrian immediately and he can figure a way to tell the powers-that-be up there. Be safe, Hawk's Daughter."

She looked up. "That's it. He signed it, there's nothing more here."

Lacus nodded thoughtfully, then focused past Shiho on the Ito's and Voril Joule. "Shiho tells me you've seen materials you shouldn't have. I must wonder now if there was another hand in that 'accident'. I have no conviction either way regarding the reality of the 'spirits' Mr. Yellow Dog refers to but I have never heard him give bad advice. Very well, Lt. Hahnenfuss will bring you all up to speed on what has happened. Commander Ito, Commander Joule, you will stand ready to support Yzak and Kira however they need you. Lt. Hawk, please organize the Faith office so that it can support whatever absences may be required. None of you are to mention anything you've learned or will learn about this to anyone."

She held up a hand, "Before anything else, do any of you have any idea who the people called Thunderbird's Sons might be? It sounds as though they will have a dangerous level of influence here, I need to find and speak to them as soon as possible."

Adrian and Voril just looked quickly at each other. "Yes we do." Adrian said quietly. "Or at least we did. Since the message doesn't suggest there've been any changes, it's still Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala."

Lacus' eyes widened. "Kira? My Kira? And Athrun? How did that happen?"

Kayla shrugged. "The Spirits do things their own way. They rarely explain either. For reasons of his own, Thunderbird has decided Kira and Athrun are going to be his agents for this time. Honestly, it's not a fun thing to be when you're working for a Spirit with that much power. But it also pretty much assures that you have a better than average chance of living through whatever they want to toss you into just because they've bothered to invest that kind of power in you."

"Ah," Adrian added thoughtfully, "it doesn't appear to be necessary to know you've been marked out by one of the greater Spirits to be able to do whatever it is they need done. I have told Kira about it, and, come to think of it, I think I told Athrun once too. But I'm not sure either believed me."

"I see." Lacus had a profoundly thoughtful look on her face for several moments. Then she just shook her head and continued on. "Kayla, I need your silence as well. Please, do not discuss this outside a secure facility! It really could set off a genuine panic and, possibly, a new round of war."

Kayla Ito's jet hair bounced as she nodded vigorously. "You have my promise. I know better than to talk about Medicine stuff. And believe me, Madam Chairman, this is about as serious as Medicine gets! Grandmother of Bears is one of the greater Spirits, when she tells you something, you listen!"

"I will remember that." Lacus promised. She accepted formal salutes from the four ZAFT officers and signed off, leaving the five of them to go over what was known so far. It proved to be startling and more than a bit unnerving to the four who were hearing it for the first time. Still, when they were done going over the data, they managed to refocus on planning for whatever unknown aid might be needed. The key was flexibility, and all five of them were good at that.

Duo Maxwell did not consider himself particularly paranoid. That was Heero's specialty. But the simple fact that Yamato had slipped out the back way and was doing something he couldn't get a handle on in his mobile suit seriously bothered him. It was worse, in his opinion, because he honestly liked the guy. He knew he was a respectable judge of character; you didn't live long enough to actually grow up on the streets of L2 if you weren't. And he'd pegged all three of the locals as decent people. Problem was, even the decent guys could knife you in the gut if they thought they and theirs were in danger from you.

He knew Yamato could see him as he headed for Wing Zero's maintenance rack but that might be a good thing. He just might be drawn out of the mobile suit. Then some questions could be asked, politely of course, but asked just the same. So he did nothing to indicate he was interested in the Strike-Freedom as he waited for Heero to complete his shut-down of Wing Zero.

The hatch opened quickly enough and Heero swung out, helmet tucked under his arm. "Why is Strike-Freedom semi-powered?"

Yep, that was his Heero all right. Suspicious of everything and noticed it all. Direct as a sledgehammer too.

"I don't know," Duo said very quietly, not sure how good the external pickups on the local machine might be. "I can't get any reading on what's happening. He's hooked into the mainframe though. I can't hack his work, he's got super-administrative privileges on the system and he's got me locked out of almost all of it while he's in there."

He watched Yuy's eyes take on that completely internal look that meant he was thinking very fast. "When did he leave the meeting? What was going on before he did?"

"He left about forty minutes ago. Nothing special was going on. Relena and Zechs were trying to probe about possible tech trades, same as they were when you left." Duo paused thoughtfully, "come to think of it, Joule was hinting he wanted to learn our language but that's about it. Nothing serious or any tension or anything."

"Learn our language? Did he say why?" Heero was on that instantly.

"Nothing beyond what you'd expect. You know, the usual stuff about promoting understanding and improving relations. The same crap Relena spouts most speeches."

Heero gave him a sharp glare. "We know a good deal about them. They don't know much about us. But if they could understand our language, and if Yamato's good enough to find and hack J's files, then they'll have access to all the data J's been sending us since we came over here."

The implications hit Duo instantly, so did another thought. "'Ro, just how well did J bother to protect his work over here?"

Cobalt eyes met his in immediate understanding. "He didn't."

"How bad is 'he didn't'?." Duo asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

The glare Heero directed at the bay wall closest to the site of their portal to home rivaled a solar flare. "He tucked his files deep into the colony's oldest and dullest records and used a simple password lock."

"Yamato's got anything he wanted then." Duo said flatly. "You watched him yesterday, how fast and how sure he is on a keyboard when he figured the stabilizing burn. If that's all that idiot did to protect stuff, he'll find it in a heartbeat."

Heero just nodded once. "You say he has super-admin rights on the system. That means he can use it to send anything he wants back to those PLANTs. Our language advantage just went out the window."

"We all speak more than one language." Duo reminded him. "We can just use a different one."

"We can, but what we have in the files is all in the one language and the translation program will be simple to invert to give it to them. No, we need to find out what they intend to do with their knowledge. That matters more than picking another tongue to chat in."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Duo asked facetiously.

Heero gave him a single raised eyebrow stare that implied maybe he'd left his brains in the shower drain that morning along with the usual hair wad before he replied coolly, "We ask him."

Duo returned the favor with both eyebrows up. "You think we'll get an honest answer here?"

The Japanese pilot shrugged. "As you've pointed out many times, we won't know until we ask."

"Besides," Heero added quietly, "he's opening his hatch right now. We're not going to get a better chance."

Duo looked around to find Yamato already starting to descend to the gantry. There was an open tension in the Coordinator and his eyes were focused down, assuring he would make a clean landing. Heero suddenly brushed past him, clearly intent on catching the other before he could get out of the bay. Duo instantly followed him.

Rather to Duo's surprise, Yamato waited for them by the hatch to the living quarters. His expression was focused but the American couldn't find any particular anger or any thing like it in the other. Whatever had his attention was clearly something he intended to share.

"The closest of the 'rescue' ships is now just over ten hours out," Kira told them calmly as they reached him. "The _Kusanagi_ is a good two hours ahead of the ZAFT ships and better than three ahead of the ones the Alliance is sending."

"Cool." Duo tried for bouncy but didn't think he'd gotten very far with it. When both Yamato and Yuy gave him slightly irritated looks, he knew it was a complete failure. He just shrugged.

"Will that leave enough time for the stabilizing burns you still need to calculate?" Heero asked.

"Yes. I need to do the next one in two hours and it shouldn't take more than five to six hours before the last one can be figured. There should be no issue with that last burn even though they'll be well inside long range sensor limits by then. We're going to have to admit we got into the colony anyway or it'll be difficult to explain how Yzak's wounds got tended. If we leave right after the second burn, we should be able to get over to a point where it would imply we're coming up from the small mid-colony docking bay too. I really don't want anyone in the rescue fleet considering any other options right now."

"That'd be bad." Duo agreed as he glanced at Heero.

Yuy had a very thoughtful frown on his face. "They are getting here sooner than I expected."

Kira nodded. "I suspect General Kisaka is pushing the ship for all she can give. My sister is likely to have been yelling at everyone in Aube."

He turned serious eyes on them both. "You should also know, they've launched the _Archangel_. She appears to be making for the Moon at the moment. At a guess, she's going to pick up Captain Ramius and the others. Given the travel times, we should be headed back to the PLANTs by the time they've completed their stop there. Since I expect they'll want first hand reports, I believe they will meet us back there rather than coming here."

"You believe this ship would pose a danger to us?" Heero asked flatly.

"Yes," Kira nodded. "They have an excellent sensor suite and very experienced people manning it. If they got close enough, they would pick up the energy usage in this small block and that would make it very obvious to them that there were people here. None of the current recovery teams on the colony are working this close to the colony's skin. It will attract attention should they see it. Unfortunately, I know they will come here and do at least some investigating. Cagalli wouldn't have sent them up if she didn't want them to check here, but if I can talk to them first, I may be able to keep them focused on the far side where the battle was fought. Not even _Archangel_ can spot you with the whole bulk of the colony in the way."

"Why would they need to come here?" Duo groused. "They've already seen the fight. And you'll be home safe. What's the attraction in one banged up old colony?"

Heero gave him a look that suggested his brains were leaking. Yamato just shook his head. So, well, that one hadn't worked very well either had it? He wasn't doing so hot with the smart remarks here today. But he honestly wasn't expecting the answer Kira gave him.

"The flare of light from Captain Yuy's buster rifle will have been seen. While I doubt anyone got a good reading on it, what they will have picked up will have been very different from any weapon my mobile suit carries. And frankly, the expectation will be that I got the last of the pirates by myself. Just about everyone has at least some idea of just how much damage I can do when I put my mind to it."

"That's not good." Quatre's voice suddenly announced over the intercom speaker. "Please, will you all come back in here? There's been an announcement from the PLANTs that I'd like to discuss with you. We're in the comm center."

Heero grabbed the lock-bar on the hatch and swung it open. Yamato trotted thru when Duo hung back for a moment. They followed him as he skipped quickly down the stairs and sped off to the comm center.

"Duo," Heero said very softly as the Coordinator disappeared around the corner of the corridor that led to the center. "We'll discuss what he was doing in the system later. I want to make my own check now first. It is possible the only thing he was doing was checking on his people."

"Ah, yeah, you really believe that?" Duo asked skeptically.

"No," Yuy replied honestly. "But it would be smarter to verify there is something to be upset about before we start accusing anyone of anything."

"Ya got a point there," Duo conceeded.

When the two of them arrived, they found everyone else already there and a pair of chairs from the dining room waiting for them. A glance around showed they'd augmented the limited seating in here with several dining room chairs in fact. It was Noin's watch so she had the center seat at the boards and was fiddling with the system.

"Thank you for coming so promptly." Zechs made it sound like there had been a choice. "We've just picked up a newscast from Aprilus City. The Supreme Council Chair has addressed the PLANTs regarding the situation as they see it. There were some interesting questions and answers at the end. We'd appreciate your thoughts on it."

Duo watched with interest. Not only was the lady who represented the PLANTs very pretty, she was sharp too. The address was very short, just an announcement that the rescue ships were getting close, nothing could be found yet of their missing people due to sensor limitations, and, most interestingly, no, the PLANTs didn't know what the weird gold light seen just after the battle was. There were several suggestions for it raised by the various news people on location but Miss Clyne did not show any favoritism for any of them.

"Left it wide open there," Duo noted with a sharp grin.

"Wise of them," Noin agreed.

"Yes," Joule agreed irritably. "But it is no help for us. We need to come up with an explanation of some kind. We were here after all. Everyone will expect us to know!"

Quatre smiled gently. "No, even you can say you don't know. For all they know, it was something on one of those pirate ships that blew up so spectacularly when 'Kira' destroyed it."

"There's nothing I know of that would have generated anything like the energy pattern off Yuy's buster rifle," Yzak growled.

"We don't have to know what it was," Kira disagreed. "All we have to say is it was something we've never seen before. We don't have to have any more explanation than that."

Yzak glared at his Second, making Duo rather glad he wasn't glaring at him. Something about this Joule being ticked off was somehow more worrisome than having Heero mad at him. Maybe it was his confidence that Yuy wouldn't follow through on the threat. He had a nasty feeling Joule might.

"Do you have any idea just how _stupid_ that would make us sound?" Yzak snarled.

"About as stupid as Lacus sounded."

There was something of a warning in Yamato's reply. They all caught it and eyes looked back and forth between Joule and Yamato. Dearka Elsman was busy staring off at the ceiling. Joule on the other hand, went very still, eyes watching Yamato warily.

After several uncomfortable seconds, Relena leaned forward. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What is the difficulty?"

Neither Joule nor Yamato replied. Yamato wasn't looking at anyone while Joule glared at the whole room. Yet unless Duo was really, really misreading the situation, Joule had just somehow stepped in it but good and wasn't finding any way out.

Elsman finally sighed and said, "Lacus is Kira's fiancée."

Whoa! Yamato was _engaged_ to the Supreme Council Chair? Wasn't she the effective equivalent to being President of the ESUN? Suddenly, the abrupt chill between the two Commanders made a lot more sense.

"Oops." Quatre said quietly.

"Large oops," Trowa agreed.

"Commander Joule," Zechs spoke gently. "Perhaps it is a better thing to suggest ignorance than to try to find a lie you can sustain?"

"I do not think you want to be giving those reporters the truth." Wu Fei noted dryly.

Kira stood abruptly. "Please excuse me. I seem to be getting in the way."

He turned and marched out the door without waiting for an agreement from anyone. Everyone winced as the door closed firmly behind him. Duo glanced over, but Joule was now staring at the floor.

"Yzak," Elsman said bluntly, "get off your ass and go apologize. You can insult Kira just about as much as you want, but insulting Lacus was plain stupid."

"I know!" He snapped back. "I wasn't intending it as an insult to Lacus!"

"For something unintended, it was spectacularly effective," Dorothy remarked, one bifurcated eyebrow raised as she studied the blank face of the closed door. "I take it this engagement is not a secret here?"

"No," Dearka agreed, "everyone knows about it from the last corner of the PLANTs to the backwaters of the Alliance. It's one of the big reasons no one wants to start trouble with Lacus. No one in their right, or wrong, mind wants Kira that pissed at them. He's one of the most easy going guys you could ever meet, right up until he thinks someone might upset her in even the smallest way. He can get pretty nasty at that point."

"Got one kick-ass mobile suit to back his nasty up with too," Duo noted thoughtfully.

Dearka grinned. "Yeah, Strike-Freedom figures into most considerations regarding offending Kira."

"When someone has a unit like his, only a fool would ignore it," Noin said as she gave Yzak a very pointed look.

"Mr. Joule," Mariemaia said with a bright chirp, "I think you should listen to Mr. Elsman. You will get this over with much faster if you do."

Duo managed not to laugh at the expression on Joule's face but it took a huge effort not to. Everyone else was pretty obviously strangling laughter too. Well, all but Heero, but then, if he didn't want you to see any expression on his face, you just didn't. But Duo had looked at his eyes; he knew Yuy was just as amused as everybody else.

"You're outvoted ten to one here Commander," Duo grinned. "Ya might as well just admit you're gonna hafta do it. I don't know him all that well but I kinda doubt he's gonna forgive ya real quick."

"Eleven to one," Elsman said coolly.

"Yzak," he continued, suddenly very serious. "You know Kira doesn't hold a grudge. But you also know if he's ever going to, it'll be over something done to Lacus."

There was an importance being attached to this Duo was dying to understand. Unfortunately, he kinda doubted anyone was going to explain it just to satisfy his curiosity. Still, he was willing to bet whatever it was went back to the two wars, when Joule and Yamato had fought on different sides.

Commander Joule suddenly slammed to his feet and stormed out the door without a word to anyone. Relena looked startled but Quatre was looking more concerned. Apparently, this wasn't really all that good a sign.

"Does Commander Joule need a referee?" Mariemaia asked quietly.

"Not normally," Dearka replied unhappily as he too stood up. "But at the moment, I don't think they should talk to each other alone. I really don't need Yzak in the mood Kira'll put him in if they get off on both their girlfriends. He's not willing to admit he has one yet and Kira is just angry enough to really dig at him about it."

"Not," Dearka admitted, "that he doesn't need it. If he doesn't let himself admit how much he cares for Shiho pretty soon, he's gonna be in even deeper hot water with her than he'll be with Kira and Lacus after he tells her what Yzak said. So, if you'll excuse me, I think I'd better follow them."

"Of course," Relena agreed with a gentle smile.

Heero barely let Elsman get out the door before he moved over to his favorite computer station and began working at high speed. The others stared at him, leaving Duo the job of explaining what it was all about. Once everyone understood though, Heero found himself with Zechs watching from the right side and Quatre from the left. His ferocious scowl didn't move either of them, which amused Duo greatly.

Noin checked with the security net to see where they were and if she could listen in. "Damn! Yamato and Joule have gone to sulk in their mobile suits. Looks like Elsman is about to join them."

"They want a secure channel for their conversation." Dorothy tapped her lip thoughtfully. "It makes sense, but I want to hear that one. We need a better understanding of the dynamic between those three. And we also need a much better grasp of where they fit into the local political structure."

"We already understand a good deal of that," Mariemaia objected. "The local news reports have given a quite clear picture. It only made it easier to understand once Dearka explained Kira is the Chairwoman's fiancée."

"It may be more complicated than that," Relena said quietly. "They're very close to my age but they are in positions of authority usually held by people decades older. And it isn't just one young person, as my position was, but a number in the same age group. Recall, the Chief Representative of Aube is Commander Yamato's twin sister. Even the majority of the people _they_ trust don't seem to be that much older than they are. Commander Waltfeld seems to be the oldest. Certainly Captain Ramius and Captain La Flaga aren't that old."

"We haven't seen everyone," Trowa said slowly. "It would be very interesting to find out just who the people behind the scenes are around here."

"That will be difficult, Trowa." Quatre said clearly. "They are not in the database available to us and really, I don't think we will be able to infiltrate any more up-to-date sources."

"I might," Heero said bluntly, speaking as his hands continued to fly over the keyboard. "The transmitter for this colony has a good range. But I won't be able to do it quickly enough to have the information available before they have to leave."

"Then we learn it a bit later," Zechs said. "Because Barton's right, we need to know what we're going to be dealing with here. We aren't hidden any more and we can't go home yet. We have to find out all we can. It may end up affecting our chances of getting home safely."

Heero suddenly stopped working. "Damn! Yamato got it all. He's got some kind of rider attached to J's data too. It looks like it'll send him any updates as soon as they arrive. Whatever it is, its one complex piece of work. It will be very difficult to get it out without damage to our databases."

"Then leave it alone." Quatre stood abruptly. "We have to create a basis of trust here. There really isn't anything going into any of those four sections that we actually can't afford to have them reading. Some of it will require explanations, I'm sure, but it won't disrupt a developing relationship between us. In fact, it should improve it. They honestly can't afford to trust or perhaps even trade with us operating from ignorance."

"Q-man's got a point there," Duo noted. "I wouldn't trust or trade with someone when I didn't know as much about his cards as I possibly could. I for sure wouldn't do it if I couldn't see any of his deck at all! Just because I like these guys, that doesn't make them genuinely trustworthy. They can't afford to trust us blind, any more than we can afford to trust them blindly. Even the good guys'll kill ya if they're convinced you're gonna get them killed."

"That's quite true," Dorothy agreed, eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"Do we truly have anything about the war back home we need to hide?" Wu Fei suddenly asked. "Won't sharing the information be wiser than trying to withhold it? We've already learned enough about this place to know who some of the most honorable of the people in it are. And all three of our guests are on that list. We need to have them understand we are as honorable as they are. We need them to see what kinds of injustice Crimson Dawn represents too. Full access to J's data should do that for us."

"We need to understand just what someone being a Coordinator really means." Lucretia Noin added. "We need to understand what it is about Kira Yamato that is so different from the norm of Coordinators too. Because while they all move with a grace I don't see in the footage we have of the Naturals, Kira is just that much more than the other two are. He's just . . . . . different."

Heero shut down the computer. "I'm going up into the building above us. From the way they act about it, the answers are there. I want to find that lab too."

He turned. "Duo, I'll need your skill with hidden doors."

"Heero!" Relena cried.

Duo winced. That wasn't the way to convince Yuy not to do something. She ought to know that by now.

"Go ahead," Zechs cut in firmly. "We do need that information. Besides, I think keeping you and Yamato apart for a bit might make him a bit less jumpy. Not that he is particularly, but it's obvious that he sees you as the team's hacker. We'll just tell him the truth, that you're off continuing our exploration of the area. Take a full recording pack with you."

Heero nodded and went to pick up the necessary gear. Duo paused though. He had a feeling he was trying to forget something. Oh, yeah, he was!

"Zechs," Duo said seriously enough to assure he had the man's attention. "Don't let Yamato sit in that mobile suit too long. He needs to figure the second stabilizing burn in just about an hour from now."

Ice blue eyes widened slightly, then he nodded in understanding. Duo bounced out the door. It wouldn't do to have Yuy getting too far ahead of him. He'd gripe about it for the next year.

The door into the main building above was somehow easier to face now that they had some idea of why it seemed to carry such a powerful negativity. It didn't make it any easier or more comfortable to be close to it but it took most of the 'unknown' fear factor out of it. He followed Heero through the door and into the maze of hallways beyond.


	23. Chapter 23

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 23 Movement in many Directions

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Bad winter. Spent over a month being sick. Then was stupid enough to pick up an expensive and time guzzling hobby. But the jewelry I'm making now is pretty good stuff even if I do say so myself. So, next chapter up. And I do have the one after it started too. I'll see if I can do this in less than four/five month intervals.

* * *

The tiny shuttle was matte black and radar deflective. It was too small to be sitting where it was, so far from any working base or viable colony. It hadn't gotten there on its own, to the site of the only actual colony destroyed by a Gundam, that was for sure. But whatever help it may have had was nowhere in evidence. For now, it was rather effectively hidden among the wreckage and the trash. Someday, even this point would be completely salvaged but that would be decades in the future. For now, the colony ruins were a lawful dump site for ships that had materials that wouldn't recycle readily.

There was nothing to suggest it was even noticed by the massive ship cruising slowly around the edges of the debris field of the shattered colony as it prepared to add to the materials there. Appearances were deceptive however. And deception was vital. The place was too popular with the patrol ships of the Dawn as a rendezvous point. When you were supposed to be hiding from someone, prowling in his backyard probably wasn't the smartest thing you could do. Of course, it wasn't the first place he'd be looking for you either.

The _Jack of all Trades _was a Sweeper ship. Her people were from many places and of all races the solar system boasted but they were bound to the ship and each other by free-given oaths. There were nuclear families among the Sweepers of course. Some ships were manned almost entirely by a cooperative of up to eight dozen families, but the norm was still an unrelated crew loyal only to their ship and the Sweeper organization.

The old Alliance hadn't really paid much attention to the Sweepers. As long as their taxes were paid and their crews deferred to Alliance personnel, they were left largely alone to do their unglamorous but vital recovery work. OZ, tied up in the war, never had the time to consider them at all. The ESUN had chosen to follow the Alliance, although they were much more civil about it. And Crimson Dawn just didn't have the men or ships to waste on a bunch of scruffy scavengers.

The head of the Preventers on the other hand, had noticed. Lady Une, with a _lot_ of help from Maxwell and granted Howard's agreement, had been the only outsider to penetrate to any depth into the careful shell game that protected the Sweeper's secrets. Even the other Gundam Pilots only knew about the real Sweeper organization because Howard had given Maxwell permission to tell them when they'd been based off the _Peacemillion_. Given what he'd learned since this new war had started, the shuttle pilot was fairly sure even Maxwell hadn't been as well informed as the Deathscythe pilot thought he was.

All of them had kept the information away from Relena. Any number of people who were completely untrustworthy had had access to her. And while she was getting better at it as she got older, the Vice-Foreign Minister was still a poor actress under too many circumstances. She might not ever say anything but body language could also tell the astute observer things they shouldn't know. It was a sad fact that just being a worthless bastard didn't make one stupid or blind.

General Anne Une had hammered out a _very_ sub-rosa agreement with Howard not long after the Mariemaia Incident. The few Preventers whom Howard had agreed Une could trust with the information kept their mouths shut. In return, Sweeper ships occasionally hosted the odd agent or so and helped them on their way. Neither side asked questions. Neither side discussed the situation. So when a small hatch that led to a darkened bay well away from the hatch where the trash was being carefully pushed out slowly opened onto vacuum it was ignored on the _Jack_'s bridge. It stayed open briefly, then closed as deliberately as it had opened. When the _Jack_ had finished dumping her garbage in with the rest that was part of that ruin and cleared the colony, the shuttle was gone.

Colonel Vicente Rojas, his uniform left in a bag in favor of a simple beige jumpsuit that was the standard shipboard dress of most career spacers, followed the shuttle's pilot through the nearly identical corridors of the massive vessel. Their meandering suggested carelessness or disinterest. But somehow, they managed to pass bays and store rooms with their doors opportunely open just as the two men went by. Rojas did not smile although he wanted to. It was a relief to see everything in readiness.

They drifted into 'officer's country' and the Colonel was unsurprised to find himself outside a very plain hatch with a small plaque on it that read "Howie". His guide knocked on the hatch. Whatever the noise that came back was supposed to have been, the man took it for permission to enter.

The office behind the door was smaller than he'd been expecting. Howard was functionally the Chief of the Sweepers after all. This space wasn't as big as the one he'd used when aboard the _Lawkeeper_.

"Vicente! Good to see ya made it." Howard stood up and shoved out a hand to be shaken.

Rojas obliged the man, inwardly wincing at the sheer garishness of his orange and blue Hawaiian shirt. "It's good to see you as well Howard. I believe they are hunting for you almost as hard as they are me."

"Yeah, they are," the old man agreed, peering over the top of his trademark dark glasses. "Having just about as much luck there too. I hope Frank here showed ya around on the way in."

"He did," the Colonel agreed. "Your preparations look to be nearly complete."

"Everything will be ready to go in three hours. We'll be passing the mobile suit factory by this time tomorrow. They really shoudda put that asteroid off limits. I still don't understand why they've left it a legal dump point."

"I believe they think it is helping to hide the place," the Preventer replied thoughtfully. "After all, you can't really be surprised at anything you find in a space dump. It does make getting supplies to the site clandestinely a lot easier. But you are right; they should have closed the space and put in proper defenses when they decided to move in on the revolt on L2. Supplies would still reach the place and security would have been a lot better. The Holt boy wouldn't have ever gotten into the base if they'd done their security correctly."

Howard sighed. "Yeah, I was sorry to hear about that. Jim was a good kid, hell of a pilot and an outstanding navigator."

Colonel Rojas shrugged. "So I understand. But seeing your entire family slaughtered in front of you does terrible things to a person. I am actually amazed he let himself live long enough to plan and carry out that bombing."

The old Sweeper said nothing for a long minute, then just shook his head and changed the subject. "The 'garbage dump' will take place in the center of the assembly zone. The _Ragpicker_ has already made its drop. _Treasure Finder_ should be off-loading their portion right about now. All you have to do is get your people out there to do the final assembly."

"The team is already on-site," Rojas replied with a rather sharp smile. "I've had word that _Ragpicker_ not only left the expected supplies but dropped some extra as well. They tell me we should get four charges out of it now."

Howard sat slowly, suddenly very sober. "Yeah, I heard. Scotty's countin' on you to get revenge for his family."

"He isn't the only one." Vicente let himself sag into the comfortable chair across from the desk, glad the Sweepers tended to keep gravity running on their ships.

The old man nodded grimly. "Nope, he's not. I spoke with Une last night and told her as per our agreement, we've begun to help your folks smuggle vulnerable and important people off planet and out of the colonies. And we're getting hold of some we know are likely to become targets too. We picked up Catherine Bloom when we swung by L3. They're hunting too hard for her brother, she was gonna be turned into a hostage before long."

He shook his head, "Would you believe she wanted us to bring four lions too? Kept saying Trowa'd be real upset if anything happened to 'em. She was pretty mad when we left the cats behind."

Vicente rolled his eyes. Yes, he could very well imagine Catherine saying something like that. And he had no problems believing she'd really wanted to bring lions onto a long haul Sweeper ship either. She was a fine girl but there were times when she didn't see anything she didn't want to. Une had given him the report she'd gotten from whoever was hiding the pilots; he'd read Barton's concise comments on his sister's unwillingness to accept just how dangerous Crimson Dawn was. Mention of Barton's sister though reminded him he needed to tell Howard about another who needed rescue.

"Tell me, do you have anyone over by the L2 cluster who could rendezvous with the _Justicar_? One of our agents stumbled across Hilde Schbeiker when she intervened in a back alley attack on several young women by some Dawn enforcers. The others were locals who have homes and families that will help hide them but the Schbeiker girl is on her own right now. She is avoiding her family in the hopes that the Dawn won't go for them because of her association with Maxwell. Our agent got her off the colony but the ship is badly damaged and won't stand a chance in a fight if a Dawn patrol finds her. We've been using her as a way-station but I have no resources close enough to get her off in less than two weeks. Given the rise in Dawn activity in the L2 cluster, I'm seriously worried about someone stumbling on her."

"Smart of her to keep her folks out of it," Howard growled as he reached for his com-pad. "Let me see who's close enough to make the pick-up and sharp enough to do it right. You want us to clear the ship?"

Colonel Rojas hesitated. The _Justicar_ had been unbelievably handy where she was, he really didn't want to lose her. But her luck was getting stretched thinner by every shuttle that locked onto her landing bay. The ship might be safer if they abandoned her for a while and let the area cool off.

He said so and that started a discussion on relative safety that lasted through lunch. In the end, he and the old Sweeper agreed to pull the small crew and whoever was aboard off and send them traveling with one of the truly huge Sweeper family ships. The big vessels never made any port, they were too large for it, and they stayed well away from the usual shipping lanes. Even if the Dawn won a total victory, they were as safe a retreat as the entire solar system could offer. Howard had a small salvager in the immediate vicinity whose crew had done these rescues before. He trusted them to get the people off the _Justicar_. Vicente trusted the old man's judgment. He promised to get a message off to the Preventer ship as soon as the _Jack_ dropped his shuttle.

They went over the plans for the bombs that would, if all went according to plan, shatter the asteroid mobile suit factory beyond recovery. It wouldn't win their war, they both knew it. There were facilities on the moon and at least one down on the planet that were being hurried into production. None of them though, would be on-line in less than eight weeks no matter how hard they drove their workforce.

This attack would bring current production to a complete halt. And that would give them time to cut into the Dawn's huge equipment advantage. It was becoming imperative that something shut down the enemy's manufacturing capacity for a while or not even getting the five Gundams they were hoping would be returning would be enough.

* * *

The main lounge of the _Robert H Hobart_ was in a state of barely ordered chaos. There were tangled lines of people struggling to reach their assigned table stretching the length of the nearly fifty meter space. Many were, at best, walking wounded as well and had medical support with them. Mu La Flaga was careful to stand as far to the side as he could in the sincere hope he wasn't going to be sucked into the mess. Athrun, Andy, Murrue and Mir were crowded into the small wall alcove with him.

He'd been awakened from a sound sleep nearly four hours ago with word that the rescue parties and warships from L4 were almost to the crater. Within half an hour, a mass of overland vehicles and nearly twenty ships had overrun Endymion. The arguments about who was in charge had started immediately, only to be settled surprisingly quickly by Vice-President Harper, who very coldly pointed out that _she_ was the ranking individual on site and everyone else could shut up and just work together to get the survivors out. He and Athrun had backed her for the Aube with the injured but still very feisty Commander Thoms bellowing down the ZAFT hotheads.

The first people treated and out of the _Hobart_ were the worst of the medical cases. They'd been quickly sorted out by nation and dispatched to the best medical facility their group had, be it one of the two small MASH units the land teams had brought or the infirmary of one of the better set up warships. That left them with the current mess as everyone else wanted out too and they wanted to leave _now_.

"We are being blessed with another ship," Athrun spoke just loud enough for the rest to hear him.

"You sure?" Andy asked quickly.

"Put your hand on the metal railing. You can feel the harmonics. Whoever it is, they have big engines."

The three of them shifted slightly and each reached for the railing that was so discretely placed around the wall to aid less experienced lunar travelers in staying upright when the ship was in transit. Athrun was right, the metal was humming. In fact, it was singing louder than it had when the _Izumo_ herself had landed. Mu fought to keep the frown off his face. Whoever the new guy was, he was a major player. A very familiar player too. Damn it! He knew he should recognize that rumble.

"_Archangel_!" Murrue sounded shocked but she managed to keep her voice down. "I'd know those engines anywhere!"

Andy's head turned sharply. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Mu answered softly, not about to admit he hadn't been able to place the familiar feel first. "I'd know 'em anywhere too. It's _Archangel_ all right. I give it fifteen minutes, tops, before the Princess gets here too."

"Probably," Murrue was almost giggling. "She's the only person who could have authorized sending her up after all."

"Yes," Mir agreed, "but why did she?"

"I wonder if something has been learned at Mendel." Athrun was staring very thoughtfully at nothing physically in front of him. "We've seen those last reports that came in shortly after the battle ended. If I was going to investigate the place, she's the ship I'd choose. The PLANTs have science ships more appropriately equipped for the search but they can't fight their way out of a tight spot if that gold light turns out to be some new weapon system."

"Point," Andy nodded. "Let's hope she's got good news from there as well."

"Yeah," Mu agreed shortly.

The four of them watched the far doorway with impatient eyes. True to Mu's prediction, just about fifteen minutes later there was a sudden swirl in the people being allowed out of the room. Blonde hair suddenly bobbed into view. Then the much taller figure of Shin Asuka followed the rapidly moving blonde into the room. One quick glance around and he'd spotted them.

"Cagalli! Far side of the room!"

Mu just gave his head a minute shake. The boy was growing up but he still had a lot to learn about protocol. Then Athrun stepped past him and he just grinned.

"Kid's getting up there," Andy muttered.

"Asuka? Yeah, he's hit a real growth spurt. Shot up close to five nine last I heard a figure. Looking at him now, I'd guess he may be a bit over that. Kid's gonna end up a real tall one."

"And how is he using his new height?" Mir asked, not really over-fond of the one-time ZAFT ace.

Mu chuckled. "Well, he tried intimidating Zala just once; you can guess how that went. And the last time he saw Kira, he backed down before he could really get started. Yamato has developed into a surprisingly imposing young man for all that he's just middle height himself. When he wants to, the kid can have a presence that rivals Lacus at her best. Shin, well, Shin just isn't in that class yet."

"Never gonna be either," Mir growled darkly.

Andy tipped his head and gave her a somewhat weary, one-eyed stare. "Never be so sure you know how anyone's going to turn out. Would you have ever believed the kid would be back in Aube, and in her military no less, if someone asked you a year ago?"

Mir grimaced but was too intrinsically honest not to admit the truth. "If you'd asked last year, I would have told you it would be impossible."

"He's growing up, Mir, and that's not an easy process for anyone, let alone someone with his background." Andy said gently as most of the room watched the Chief Representative of Aube grab Athrun Zala and hold on like the world was ending while Zala held her just as securely. "He's a hot-tempered boy but he's learning to manage it. Then too, would you have pegged Joule as someone who could become Commander of FAITH at twenty?"

"Not in five lifetimes," she admitted with a small smile. "I hope Kira and the idiot are all right."

"The _Kusanagi_ sent a report just as we landed," Shin had somehow just appeared beside them; he'd plainly caught Mir's last comment but he didn't act like he'd heard the whole thing, a blessing given his still uneven temper. "They don't have them aboard yet but they have both visual and direct communications with all three. Commander Yamato and Wing Elsman are fine, the mobile suits have minimal damage, and Commander Joule has a broken collar bone. No other damages reported."

The young pilot sighed softly, "and Kira's record of heroic success is still perfect. He managed to arrest the swing battle debris had given the colony and restore it to stable orbit. He makes my teeth hurt. How can anyone be that faultless?"

Mu gave him a single raised eyebrow look and a lopsided grin. "Believe me Asuka, Kira isn't perfect. I've had to haul his backside out of more than one mistake. He's just a fast learner, that's all, so he rarely repeats his errors."

Asuka's red eyes glared but the look lacked its old power. Yeah, Andy was right. The kid was actually growing up. It was kinda good to see it really happen. Like Mir, he wouldn't have put much money on this ever happening if asked a year ago.

"Good news aside," Waltfeld spoke clearly but quietly, "what brings the _Archangel_ up at this time?"

"I don't know," Shin admitted, taking a somewhat wary glance around to be sure they weren't being too carefully watched. "But whatever it is, it's big enough for the Princess to not only get the ship supplied, crewed and launched in record time, it's enough for the Council to agree she could come along. I'm only here because the Council insisted there be an adequate escort for the ship on the way here."

He scowled. "Well, that and I didn't want her just making off with my mobile suit like she said she was going to either. You could claim I sort of volunteered I suppose. At any rate, now I get to be escort for the _Izumo_, to make sure they get back to Aube with the survivors without any 'unpleasant surprises' as Lady Mina put it. Captain La Flaga and Zala will be going on with the _Archangel_. I know the first stop will be the PLANTs to see Kira but Cagalli has something else she wants to do and she isn't explaining it to anyone."

Mu pretended he didn't see Shin's questioning look and was very careful not to look over at Andy Waltfeld. They didn't need to be giving Asuka any clues. Yes, he was growing up but he didn't think the younger pilot was steady enough yet for any of the _really_ secret secrets.

This sudden trip on Cagalli's part smacked of something extraordinary. The Council in Aube didn't want the Chief Representative haring off across space doing who knew what in the nation's name without them keeping a hand on things. Oh, the girl ultimately ruled the roost right now but the professional politicians of the Council weren't going to let her do it without at least some opposition and nosey parkering. Personally, he could think of only one thing that it might relate to; an image more absent than present that Athrun had brought back from Lacus. An image that had been taken at Mendel Colony, where Kira was right now.

"I suppose we'll find out when we get to the PLANTs," Andy offered thoughtfully, just as though he wasn't as sure as La Flaga what was going on.

"Shin!"

They all turned to see Neumann standing by the main lounge doors. "Shin, we need to get the Destiny over to the _Izumo_! Captain La Flaga, Captain Zala, we need your mobile suits aboard _Archangel_ as quickly as we can get them there. We have a favorable launch window for the PLANTs for the next three hours. We need to be away by then."

He saluted Murrue Ramius from across the room. "Captain, Ma'am, you are needed on the bridge."

Murrue turned to Miriallia Haw. "Mir, I need a good CIC again. Are you available?"

"I work freelance," she replied with a small smile. "If I promise the station the story, I think they'll be fine with it."

The Captain of the _Archangel_ simply smiled back. "You may promise them the first release of all information that isn't classified. Pending Cagalli's agreement, I'll even let you post human interest stories as we go. Think you can sell that deal?"

"Why are we still standing here?" Mir asked with a huge grin.

* * *

Kira slipped quietly into the quarters General Kisaka had assigned to the three of them. The _Kusanagi_ was crowded this trip. She'd been sent up with soldiers and equipment meant to rebuild Aube's station in the L4 cluster. And while they'd managed to unload some of the gear, most of the troops had still been aboard when the Moon was attacked. The best Kisaka had been able to offer them was a quad in the junior officer's areas. Having looked around, Yzak had accepted for them all with genuine graciousness.

Personally, Kira could care less. If someone else had already made the bed, he would have been fine with a space on the deck between his mobile suit's feet. It had been a very long day and the last bit, the intensive run through the hands of the medical staff complete with well-disguised nosey questions from Kisaka, had worn him out completely. Yzak and Dearka hadn't escaped the doctors yet so he was going to get first choice.

A quick look around showed him a well appointed, if standard, four man space. There were the usual pair of bunk beds on the sides and the space at the foot of the beds by the door was deep enough for each man to have his own small work desk. Lockers under the bunks provided stowage space for uniforms and personal items. This being officer's country aboard the _Kusanagi_, there was even a small bath with a tiny shower, something most ships didn't include for anyone besides the ship's captain.

Top bunk wasn't his personal favorite so he simply took over the lower one on the right. It was the work of seconds to stow the few things he'd brought from their usual places in Strike-Freedom and not much longer to peal himself out of the flight suit he was still wearing or to fold it neatly away as well. He took advantage of the shower, being cooped up in a flight suit for hours always left him feeling grubby, but even a shower wasn't as inviting as the thought of sleep, he didn't linger in the warm water at all.

Clean, dry, dressed for bed, Kira rolled into the bunk with relief, very pleased to find the mattress unusually comfortable for a military bed. Knowing Yzak was likely to be in a sour mood and not at all interested in being awakened to listen to him grouse, he pulled the privacy screen Aube provided for their shipboard beds. He discovered the screen refused to latch. Still, it closed enough to block out light and to at least look like it was secured. Ok, so the bunk wasn't perfect. It didn't matter. He was out like a light within seconds of his head hitting the pillow, vaguely grateful that the ship was currently maintaining enough gravity to let him sleep without having to worry about drifting around in the bed.

It was the hiss of angry whispering that woke him about an hour later. For a moment, Kira was unsure where he was or who was out there. Then the sleep fog cleared and he recognized Yzak and Dearka's voices and the bed he was in. Yzak sounded just about as short-tempered as Kira had been expecting him to be. Dearka sounded frustrated. Yeah, pulling the screen had been a _good_ idea. Then what Dearka was actually saying registered and he was suddenly listening very intently indeed.

"Yzak! Will you please just listen for a change? A bio-hazard bag is not the same thing as a cryo unit, damn it! This stuff will deteriorate if it warms up and the samples will be useless!"

There was a soft but solid sound of a hand hitting something yielding, the blow harder than it should have been judging by the small creak that sounded. "I would appreciate it if you would quit repeating yourself instead. And don't be a fool. The police use materials that have been dried out for decades! A few days in that sealed bag, well away from air or contaminates, won't make any serious difference."

"The key here," Kira winced at the savage bite in the normally easygoing Dearka's voice, "is the phrase _dried out_. These are nice, fresh, _wet_ samples we have here! And they had air in them when I scavenged them! My last cool pack is already warming up. They're going to be at room temperature in a few hours. Tell me Yzak, do you recall what 'rot' is? Because that's just what these will do!"

"What?!"

"Rot," Dearka snapped, his volume rising noticeably as his temper frayed. "Organic materials do that you know."

"Will you keep your voice down?" Joule hissed. "I do _not_ need Yamato's morals getting messed up in this!"

Kira sat up in the bunk, blinking in surprise. His morals? Just what was Yzak up to that he was worried about his Second's morals? Wait, fresh, wet samples of what?

Elsman heaved a deep but quiet sigh before he spoke much more quietly. "Look, we took unfair advantage of Maxwell's warning as it is. Even you admitted that. Now, I got these at your direction and believe me, it wasn't fun. I'd really rather have been the one on lookout! So since I had to do it, I seriously don't want to waste the whole effort, all right?"

Wha…? Maxwell's warning? This made no . . . ., oh shit, suddenly it did make sense. Kira could feel the heat rising in his face as he realized just what Yzak had done. He had a sudden hollow feeling in his midsection too. Because if he was right, there were five very skilled mobile suit pilots with damn fine machines to hand who were going to be pissed beyond belief at this trick. He honestly didn't want to be testing Phase Shift armor against Yuy's buster rifles!

Really, Joule was beginning to sound like an angry snake with all the hissing he was doing. "And what do you expect me to do about this? Do you think I keep cryo-units in a pocket or something?"

"Well," Dearka sounded more than a bit lost at the moment, which was probably why one of the single most inane suggestions Kira had ever heard came stumbling out of his mouth. "How about you just ask the Medical Section to put it in their cryo-storage until we get back to the PLANTs?"

"Have you lost your mind?!" Yzak yelped, forgetting all about keeping quiet as his temper approached boiling over. "Why of course I could do that. Just ask 'would you mind storing alien organics for us? Just until we get to the PLANTs of course, then we'll get them out of your hair.' Oh that will go over well! Since it's clearly slipped your mind, may I remind you that Aube is just an ally, NOT ONE OF THE PLANTs! This is supposed to be a secret, damn it!"

Nope, chances of his being wrong about this were getting about equal to those of snowballs on the sun. Kira realized he'd better take a hand here or this 'secret' was going to be very public property as Joule's voice was starting to climb well into a range where it would be audible right through the door. He jerked the sleep screen open to glare at the other two, and was a bit surprised to realize he was pretty close to flat out furious himself.

"I'm awake, Yzak," he snapped coldly. "And if you don't shut up, everyone from here to the Moon is going to know what is going on here. Personally, I don't think you want Maxwell finding out."

While Joule gaped at him, rather like a fish actually, he turned his attention to the flustered Elsman. "You ever heard of ice, Dearka? People use it for keeping things cold. You can get it by the bucket from the mess. Just say you need it for some bruise Yzak has. Once you have the ice, grab a sick-sack from any emergency station and make your very own, assemble it yourself cryo-unit."

He glared as they both turned red. "You're supposed to be Coordinators, try plugging your brains back in, will you?"

They blinked at him and Kira saw something he'd missed. Both of them had very dilated pupils. What had they been given down there in Medical? And why had Dearka gotten whatever they thought Yzak needed?

"Yzak?" He asked, in a much softer and calmer tone than he'd been using, "what are you on?"

"Tri-phase."

That explained a good deal. Tri-phase was a painkiller, muscle relaxant, and sedative combination often used when someone had multiple, but fairly mild, issues that needed treatment that was both effective in all directions and had very few side effects. Unfortunately, one of the most common of those few side effects was a slowing of mental processes as the sedative portion took hold.

"Why did you take it Dearka?"

"Doc found a pulled muscle in my lower back," Elsman answered. "Nothing bad but he wanted me to get some real sleep and let it rest."

"So now we know where your brains got shut off." Kira just shook his head. "I hope you didn't discuss this at all outside this room?"

"I'm not that out of it," Yzak growled quietly.

"Good," Kira replied evenly. "Elsman, put that bag down and go find some ice, all right?"

"Sure," he agreed, handing the bag to Yzak and slipping quickly out the door.

For his part, Yzak turned and sat on the other lower bunk, plunking the bad gently down beside him. "I suppose you're going to offer a lecture now. And I'm not afraid of that buffoon either."

He gave his commander a dark stare. "You should be. There's a lot more to Duo Maxwell than he generally let us see. I was watching some of the records I stole while we were out there waiting for the _Kusanagi_. Tell me, do you know who Shinigami is?"

"Who? Why does it matter anyway?"

"You don't know, do you?" Kira had learned early that phrasing something as a challenge to Yzak's intellect could take him further than just arguing would.

"Of course I do," Joule scowled. "Shinigami are minor death spirits. They escort the dead to the afterlife. They are somewhat similar to the European concept of a grim reaper."

"That's what they are here," Kira agreed. "But on Maxwell's side of the dimensional wall, Shinigami is the God of Death. And it is his code name. You might want to give that a bit of thought before you start something you can't stop with him."

He shook his head slowly. "You missed it, that first time we all sat down in the lounge, but I caught a glimpse of someone very different from the friendly motor-mouth he uses as a front. I will tell you this plainly, I don't want to meet him in Shinigami mode. I think for pure ruthlessness, he may exceed Yuy. And he isn't nearly as stupid as he plays either. You need to watch some of the data we have now. There's a lot of footage from their recent wars in there. None of those guys is any less a veteran than you are, and all of them are lethal. So, would you please explain why you did something so risky?"

Yzak shrugged, "I'll watch your data later but the answer to your question is, it all boils down to one thing; we need information, very basic information."

He leaned forward, suddenly looking as tired as Kira still felt. "They look too normal Yamato, too much like they are just regular humans putting up an impossibly elaborate sham. Why would aliens from another dimension look so much like us? I can't think of any reason why they should seem so normal if they really are from across a space-time barrier. Now, I'm not saying they aren't, I can't prove it either way. But what we have here can. Because if they really _are_ aliens, then the evidence will be written in their genetics."

Oh, well, yes. Kira admitted he hadn't considered that at all. The evidence in the mechanics of the mobile suits alone had convinced him. Well, that and knowing he'd seen Heavyarms, Deathscythe, and half of Wing Zero through a completely impossible hole in the air a few weeks earlier that was. Combine that with the language issue and he really was quite sure they weren't native to this space-time. But yeah, genetic proof would be absolute evidence. He could admit that having absolute proof could be important sometime too but he sincerely hated to consider a situation where they'd need to use it. Too many people would know too much for everyone's peace of mind if that happened.

"I," Kira spoke slowly, absorbing the reasoning, "I guess I understand the motivation. But what did you do? How did you get their genetics?"

Yzak Joule suddenly resembled nothing so much as a very ripe tomato topped by a silver wig. "I had Dearka check the wastebaskets in their rooms when we first got up today. It seems they have condoms on their side of the dimensional wall too. I had him grab two from each room."

"Oh." Kira was pretty sure his face had just gone as red as Yzak's. "Condoms?"

"Well, yes. They had them neatly tied off already so there wasn't any contamination issue to worry about."

A mental image of poor Dearka sorting through a selection of, ah, used materials, made him feel a bit faint. Good Lord! What would Yzak have had _him_ doing if he hadn't gotten out early?

"Dearka must have loved that one." Kira locked his eyes on the blanket, unable to even consider meeting Joule's eyes.

"Wasn't my most popular order," Yzak mumbled.

"I'll bet!" Kira replied with deep feeling.

He took a breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it go, sending as much of his embarrassment with it as he could. Ok, they had genetic samples. Never mind for the moment how they'd been acquired. Or what it said about the five they had come from that there were apparently plenty to chose from either. The next question was, "What are you planning to do with them anyway?"

"Well, I will consult with Lacus of course, but I think we'll end up taking them to Dr. Ito. He's the expert after all. And we know enough about some of his stunts to be able to flat out blackmail him into keeping his mouth shut if we have to." Yzak replied wearily, the anger from earlier worn away now. "Although, to be honest, that old man can keep a secret with the best of them when he wants to. And I think this time, he would want to."

Kira gave that some thought. He didn't really like or fully trust Dr. Roland Ito but Yzak had a point about his abilities. The man was probably the finest practical geneticist in the PLANTs now that former Chairman Durandil was dead. He had another serious point about the cunning old goat's ability to keep his mouth shut too. The man collected secrets like kids did shells on a beach. Unlike the kids with their shells though, Roland didn't share his secrets. It had taken some time but Kira had finally decided that Dr. Ito really did want the best for his fellow Coordinators.

But there was no denying his methods and morals weren't always the cleanest when he really, really wanted something, be it information or someone's genetics for his Project. If the tactics of the Ito Project hadn't demonstrated that, then the fact that the man had worked with his own father on the Ultimate Coordinator program until shortly before the destruction of Mendel Colony certainly did! Still, the work being done by the Project was, so far, offering the best chance of freeing them from the necessity of having a full medical lab to reproduce The papers Ito was publishing were fueling the rising hope that within a few generations Coordinators would be able to have children, fully Coordinator children, just as normally as Naturals did.

So he could only nod agreement to Yzak's half-made plans. "I think you're probably right."

"But," Kira added firmly, "this can never get out. I don't want to have to actually fight Yuy and the others. Those mobile suits of theirs are as much Gundams as ours are. And, having watched that footage, I think they were downplaying rather than exaggerating their skills too."

"Yes," Joule agreed heavily, "I have to agree. I never got the chance to directly check any of those suits but even if they have no more than they've already shown us, those are dangerous machines."

"Good, glad to hear you say that" Dearka spoke from the doorway. "I've got the ice."

Yzak turned wearily. "Thank you. Did you get something to put it in?"

"Yep," Dearka agreed, stepping forward and shutting the hatch.

"How much did you hear?" Kira asked.

"I opened the door on your remark about skills not being exaggerated," Elsman replied. "I was followed back from the mess. I don't think he was close enough to have heard anything though. It does look like General Kisaka thinks we aren't being fully forthcoming with him though."

"Probably because we aren't," Kira agreed.

Yzak eyed the entry without favor. "That is a very quiet hatch; I didn't hear it open at all."

"Too quiet," Kira agreed. "I didn't hear it either. We're going to need to reset it ever so slightly. We don't need to be eavesdropped on through a cracked hatch we didn't notice opening."

"I'll diddle it in the morning," Dearka promised. "Can someone hold the bag open so I can dump this ice into it?"

Yzak took the bag and held it open without a word. Dearka put in perhaps a third of the ice he'd brought, then placed the sealed bio-hazard bag in on top of it. The rest of it was carefully added until the smaller bag was well buried. He put the filled bag into one of the lockers under the bed, counting on the contact with the rather cool metal of the drawer to help retard the inevitable melting of the ice.

By unspoken consent, one of the desk chairs somehow made its way out of its alcove and just happened to park itself right in front of the hatch. Dearka's boots managed to find their way onto the chair seat too. If anyone wasn't very careful how they entered the room, they'd knock those boots all the way to the bathroom door and wake the three of them. They were now as secure as they could manage without tipping their hand to Kisaka that there was something here he needed to investigate.


	24. Chapter 24

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 24 Bad News all Around

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Update in under three months! Not much over one actually. Am now going on vacation for a bit. Hopefully the weather will not keep trying to drown me or blow me away. This is the weirdest spring I've ever had to live through! THIS IS WISCONSIN darn it! It is NOT Kansas! What is the weather's problem?

* * *

Colonel Sally Po eyed the unwieldy contraption on her desk with a very jaundiced stare. The look turned cold as she shifted it to the three unhappy trainees standing in front of her. Johnny Morgan, standing behind the young men, was no happier that she was. The hapless Lieutenant Ly could only stand at attention, mortified at what his people had attempted.

Damn it! They knew better! Thank God Johnny had noticed two of these idiots slipping off, giving furtive looks around as they went. Their behavior had set off alarm bells in the experienced officer's head and he'd followed them. She glared again at the useless mass of wires and components so sloppily slapped together. About the only positive thing she could think of as she regarded the pile of junk was how grateful she was that their hasty and shoddy workmanship had at least kept them from getting it to work.

"This is inexcusable," Sally told them, her voice a fair match for the winter wind now whipping around the remote peaks that surrounded the base. "Be very, very glad you never got this operational. Crimson Dawn is spread thin, true, but their electronic surveillance is outstanding and the three of you know that. Had you ever turned this trash on, you would have led them straight to us."

The young men managed to squirm while standing perfectly still. She was too angry to be amused at the sight. In fact, she wasn't sure it would ever be funny; they'd risked too much here for her to imagine a time when she'd forgive this.

"There's no word," Ensign Sheppard whispered, although no one had told him he had permission to speak. "It's been months now. No one's said what's happened back in Sanq. We all have family and friends there! And no one's told us a thing!"

His half-panicked eyes bored into hers. "My Mom's in a wheelchair, Colonel. I've got two sisters in their teens. Everyone's heard what those bastards are doing to any of our people they catch and we know they moved into the Kingdom with massive forces! We just want to know what's become of our families! We weren't trying to bring them here!"

"We all have family and friends we left behind," Sally replied icily. "And no one has had any word. No one! Yet the three of you decided you were special enough to endanger this project and everyone on the Team. I repeat, your actions are inexcusable. You are behaving like children, not soldiers! Self-centered myopia is not acceptable on this Team. If he knew of this, Chang Wu Fei would be permanently disgraced!"

Ensign Kowalski opened his mouth but Colonel Morgan cut him off. "I don't want to hear your pathetic attempts to justify the unjustifiable. You have been members of the Chang Team for over a year! You _know_ what your Captain would think of you! Ashamed doesn't even _begin_ to touch it."

"You've betrayed the team," Lieutenant Ly's voice shook. "You've betrayed the Captain! I don't want you! You can't be trusted with our lives."

He turned dark and furious eyes on the errant threesome. "I _will_ tell the rest of the team what you've done. You can face them, if you can scrape up the guts somewhere!"

"That will do, Lieutenant," Sally cut him off before he said something she couldn't get the team out of; he really was dangerously angry at the moment. He subsided but continued to give the three black looks. She slid her chair forward and leaned both elbows on the desk as she gave the situation a good mental once-over.

She needed these fools. That was the real sticking point. They couldn't afford to have three suits without pilots for them. There was no one else on the base she could have trained to replace them in under six months. She couldn't prove it, but Sally Po was reasonably sure they weren't going to have six more months to train. Crimson Dawn had to win and win decisively well before then. They didn't have the manpower for a really long war and, whether they were willing to admit it or not, they were on the verge of truly alienating the general populace. Recruiting was dropping sharply too as the former soldiers they wanted to draw in were beginning to realize there _was_ something worse than the ESUN and were making themselves scarce. One verifiable incident, that was all it was going to take to start to swing things fatally away from the Rational Revolution.

If the people of Earth and the colonies turned back to the Preventer's side, the Dawn would be in very, very serious trouble. She knew guerrilla war, she understood what poorly armed but implacable enemies could do to a formal military force. She'd done it herself after all. And if that wretched old J could really send the boys back with their Gundams . . . ., well at that point trouble didn't even _begin_ to describe what the Dawn would be in then.

All of this left her with a problem. She had to discipline these idiots _and_ rehabilitate them with the rest of the team. It wasn't a situation that could be kept secret and Ly was right about how the rest would react to this. At the same time, she couldn't afford to ruin them in their own minds or their worth as pilots would evaporate. So, she needed to buy some time for the first of the anger to burn out. A comment the supply officer had made just that morning suddenly popped into her head and a very cold smile crossed her face. Yes, this would do.

Her blue eyes chips of ice, she sat back and pronounced sentence; "All right gentlemen, listen up. We don't have the time or the officer staff to set up the court-martial you've all earned. So we're going to do this the dirty way. I will set the punishment and you will live with it. Or I'll let the Team tell you where you stand with them. Do you understand me?"

Three frightened nods reassured her that this could work. "Fine. You will go with Colonel Morgan. He will be taking you to Major Red Wolf. The major needs custodial staff. You just became that staff. Lessons will be scheduled to keep you up with the rest of the team but you will _not_ train with them for the duration of the sentence. You will work, study, eat, sleep, and have latrine breaks. You will do nothing else and you will associate with no one Major Red Wolf has not approved. You will not complain and you will not slack off. Sentence will start at ninety days. Your performance and attitude will be evaluated at the end of that time. If, and only if, you can demonstrate you have learned what responsibility means, you will return to the team. If you can not so demonstrate, sentence will be extended until you can. Do you understand me now?"

All three paled, they knew just how much work they were suddenly facing. The base was _old_. It had been abandoned for almost four years before the Rational Revolution had forced them to come back here. This was no climate to abandon machinery in, not if you wanted it to stay working. The light bulbs that needed changing alone would take the three of them at least two weeks of concentrated effort to get done. That didn't address the daily needs of keeping the spaces in use clean or the bathrooms working either. Nor did it include the stress of continued training. No, this was not going to be a sentence they were going to be breezing through.

It was a relief to see the catty smile Ly was trying to control too. It meant he thought the punishment suited the crime as well. He would convey that thought to the rest of the team, which would also help with insuring it was seen as adequate by all. It would probably also result in some deliberate messes being made just to get even too but she could have people watching for that. When the responsible parties got to clean them up themselves it should put a quick halt to that sort of thing.

Colonel Morgan had the three young men pick up their abortion of a radio off her desk and take it with them as they left. Johnny would be back just as soon as he pawned those kids off on Logan Red Wolf. He'd had an odd look in his eyes that said he wanted to discuss this. In the mean time, she had one last person to deal with.

"Mr. Ly," she said quietly as Chen tried to slip away with his disgraced teammates, "sit."

He obediently returned to the front of the desk and took the one chair there. Sally felt sorry for the young officer but he really should have kept a sharper eye on things. It wasn't as though they hadn't discussed the possibility of something like this after all.

"I apologize, Colonel Po, for letting Captain Chang down." Ly wouldn't quite meet her eyes.

Sally just shrugged. "It happens, Lieutenant. I'm just disappointed that we didn't catch this situation earlier. If Corporal Wolper had been just a bit more skilled with that soldering tool, that monstrosity would have worked. We'd have been in real trouble then."

She shook her head slowly, "you have to understand, I know our people are concerned, well, frankly scared to death is more like it. I have family and friends out there too. And I haven't heard one more word than anyone else here about their fates either. What those three did though, should have earned them a court-martial and a quick execution. It hasn't, not because I understand what drove them, but because I flat out can't afford to have suits without pilots. We, Lieutenant, _we_ have to rehabilitate those young idiots. The team has to accept the punishment as adequate and they have to learn to deal with the silence!"

His head stayed down. "Could we ask, next time the line opens?"

"No." Sally stared at him grimly. "No, we can't. Because lack of information equals hope, Chen. If they don't know, they can still hope their people escaped. Everyone knows some did. We aren't a large enough group, nor do we have the skilled medical personnel necessary, to cope with our people going into the kind of near-insanity some kinds of knowledge can push them to. Derek Sheppard _needs_ to believe his mother and sisters could have escaped. Mike Kowalski _needs_ to believe his parents and younger brothers got out. Chris Wolper _has_ to have the hope that his wife and children are safe. Without that hope, they will slide into madness, temporary perhaps, but deadly dangerous just the same. Mobile suits with insane pilots are not very useful. Oh, they'll do a lot of damage before they're killed but they will die. And they will take the suit with them. We need those suits and their pilots to come back from their missions, to be able to strike again and again. We can't afford to let grief throw them away in one spectacular, and useless, show!"

Chen's head came up, a half-defiant look in his eye. "Don't we deserve to know as much as we can though? I watch and listen every day, Colonel Po, and I think ignorance is more dangerous. Those three, they aren't the only ones getting desperate for word, any word, even bad news is better sometimes than no news!"

Sally rubbed her temples; she was trying to raise a headache here. The young man had a valid point, she knew that. She also knew the risks associated with grief-stricken people going off in a blind rage against the source of the grief. While the Preventer base in Sanq had been warned early, the warning had been issued before they'd known just how through the attackers intended to be in destroying their enemies.

It was quite likely that most of their non-combatants had still been near the base when Crimson Dawn arrived. Few of them were likely to have escaped the bloodbath that abruptly cut off news report had shown in New Port City as the Dawn ruthlessly rid themselves of any and all vestiges of the ESUN they could find. They'd killed the staff of the Residence, for God's sake! How dangerous to the Dawn was an eighteen year-old housemaid? She found herself wondering if the redoubtable and resourceful Pagan had managed to escape.

"Please, Colonel, can't we even try to find out?" Chen's softly spoken question jerked her back to the immediate situation again.

"You saw the broadcast from New Port City," Sally reminded him quietly. "Are you sure you really want to get into that?"

"I'm beginning to be sure we need to." Chen slumped slightly. "We all saw that broadcast you know. Nobody's got any delusions. Any good news will be the equivalent of a miracle, everybody understands that. But, Colonel, we need to _know_!"

"My family lives in Hong Kong," he whispered. "There are a lot of Lys there. It won't be all that simple to find them in among all the others. But, if they have enough time, eventually they will. It's the same with everyone here. A lot of us had our families on the base, we know the chances are bad but, . . . . . . . . . . . ., damn it Colonel!"

His head jerked up again and she saw the shine of unshed tears in his eyes. "This not knowing is _killing_ people!"

"I see." Sally sat back unhappily. There was no good answer here. Finding out could trigger grief madness. Not knowing was just as clearly eating her people from the inside out. Which was the greater danger?

"Sally," Morgan was suddenly at the door, "we have a problem."

He looked at the unhappy Lieutenant, then shrugged. "Word will get out, might as well be accurate."

"What now Johnny?"

"We've lost Ren Bao and the entire mobile suit group in Mongolia."

"What happened?" Sally found herself on her feet.

"Don't know. Word just came in from General Une. All we do know is they got nothing. Ren blew the base when they finally forced the doors. But the team training there and all twenty-one suits are gone."

The chair somehow came up and hit her in the backside. Or maybe she just collapsed into it. One team, gone. Out of only six to start with. And Ren Bao with them. That left the far eastern Preventer resistance without a ranking leader.

"Oh hell," Sally breathed, "what do we do now?"

* * *

Heero Yuy did not regard himself as prone to flights of fancy. Things like that were Duo or Quatre's provenance. But the plain, cold, fact was, this place made his skin crawl. Watching Duo, who had point at the moment, he judged the other pilot was even less happy to be here than he was.

At one time, the corridors and offices here had probably been pleasant places to work and socialize. Someone had clearly put considerable thought into the colors and textures used on the walls and in the carpeting. Clean and well-lit, it would have been an inviting area. Filthy, torn, one light in three still working, and with ancient blood splashed in too many places, it was simply disconcerting to walk here now. Nor did the weight of unseen eyes help at all. The dead, it seemed, hadn't left this place yet.

This office was one of the worst so far. It had been torn to shreds for one thing. The hidden door to this space hadn't stopped the killers from finding it and they'd been more thorough here than any other place they'd found yet. For all his combat experience, Heero resolutely kept his eyes away from the massive blood spray that decorated the wall behind the shattered desk. There was a lot of hate in this room and it all centered right there.

"'Ro," Duo spoke softly, giving Heero the feeling the American was trying to keep the ghosts from listening. "Got a door in this wall here."

Wary blue-violet eyes looked around the ruined space distrustfully. "Ya wanna open it?"

Yuy looked around the wreckage thoughtfully himself. This was a first in their so-far seven and a half hours of searching. They'd found two other hidden offices in these walls but neither of them had boasted yet another hidden portal leading off of them. He considered the space.

This office suite had contained four areas and a small but once-luxurious executive bath. The conference room had been the least damaged, with the massive, genuine wood table almost untouched and the chairs mostly just thrown around. The sideboards had all been smashed open and the contents either broken or tossed aside but that was the extent of the damages there. The small storage room had been stripped and the contents strewn around the reception space. That space in turn had seen the furniture torn apart and every last thing that could be broken had been. Which brought them to the office they were in right now.

The cabinets had all been forced open and the contents torn to confetti. Every chair was slashed apart with little left of it but the metal frame. The desk was a shattered ruin that had clearly been searched into fragments for some secret data. But it had also been genuine wood, a massive piece given the amount of fragments, that had likely been quite old. Whoever it had belonged to, they were significant to this place. Heero was quite sure he didn't want to go through that hidden door, the office itself told him he had to if he was ever going to understand what this G.A.R.M. had been about.

"Can you even get us in?" He asked seriously, well aware that phrasing it as a challenge would help focus the nervous Maxwell.

The braid bobbed as Duo nodded. "Oh yeah. Whatever was here to hide the lock is someplace on the floor now. But it's one of the disguised and coded ones so it'll take a bit."

"Take whatever time you need," Yuy replied as he stepped over to look as Maxwell got started.

Duo had spotted this patterned wall and gone straight for it when they'd first entered, his familiarity with the kinds of hidden locks on the colony telling him there was a real probability of something to find there. The spot where Duo was working was outlined, the lock area very slightly lighter and cleaner than the surrounding wall, indication that something had hung there as an additional means of concealment. The lock itself, like a few they'd found elsewhere in this colony, was camouflaged as a decorative design on the wall. It was one of a repeating pattern of geometric shapes cut into the metal of the wall. You had to have exceptionally sharp eyes to realize that the grove of the outlines went deeper here than on the other repetitions of this pattern.

The code-breaker came off his belt and the American began to touch the probes to the keys of the lock, trying to find the electronically active starting point. Whoever designed these things had liked to begin with the lower keys so he checked there first. And hit his start point on the second try. Heero watched as a very Shinigami grin began to twist the other's lips.

"You people have no imagination," Duo muttered. "Stealing from you guys is so damn easy; I'm amazed you kept any secrets."

"I doubt the local thieves have anything like your gear." Heero said quietly as he kept an uneasy watch on the empty room.

"Umph," Maxwell just grunted, then froze. "Oh One, someone's had this open recently."

The eyes gone violet now with tension, turned to him. "I'd say within a month or so given how easily these move."

"Dr. Hibiki's lab."

"Real likely. You dead sure we should go in there, Hee-chan?"

Kira Yamato was afraid of what was on the other side of this door. His voice had flat out said so when he's spoken of finding it with that Dr. Ito. Why? The other pilot hadn't struck him as being the easily frightened kind. Curiosity suddenly bit Heero, very, very hard.

"Let's see what the Coordinator was afraid of, Oh Two."

Duo's eyebrows rose, and Yuy could see the curiosity bug bite him too. He nodded and turned back to the lock. It clicked softly only seconds later and they eased the door open slowly. Booby-traps might be unlikely but they weren't impossible; the two veterans were not going to be careless.

They found no traps. As the door opened though and they got a look inside, they knew they'd found what they'd been expecting. This was unmistakably some kind of lab.

It was a surprisingly compact space, perhaps twice the size of the office they were currently in. It was also quite full. Heero recognized maybe half of the things he could see. The two lab tables could have come out of any wet lab back home. The glassware in the one cupboard he could see was mostly familiar too. Filing cabinets were filing cabinets, no matter what universe they were in. But the rest, no idea what it was for.

The space was dominated by a single, very large, mostly black machine of some kind. He was looking at the back of it, which told him nothing. The lighting had come on when the door opened and the mysterious machine was bathed in a strong, warm light that was obviously set to keep shadows to a minimum in the lab.

"Ya know, Yamato was real definite about not touching stuff in places like this." Duo clearly didn't like this room any better than he did.

"We will restrict our investigation to doors, cabinets, drawers, and computers." Heero stepped inside warily. "We will not touch any glassware that is sitting out, the machines we don't recognize, or anything we might find in a cold storage unit."

"I'm not opening any cold storage units," Duo replied with a shudder. "I don't wanna find anything that could be some embryo bank."

"Then we won't touch those either," Heero agreed. "We aren't qualified to appraise something like that anyway."

Maxwell's hand slid up to the back of his braid. "Whadda ya wanna bet the guy thought this place was pretty secure?"

Heero grinned as the hand slipped back down, with a pair of gundanium lockpicks in it now. "Why don't you check that out? I'll see if I can find a computer or two to hack."

Duo moved cautiously to the left, Heero took the right. A fast look around as he reached the far edge of the center machine showed him the room was largely lined in file cabinets. This must have been either the primary data storage for the project or it's backup given how many of them there were here. Maxwell was going from cabinet to cabinet, assessing the quality of their locks. Knowing him, he was looking for the best secured units to try first as the most important of the data was likely to be there.

Now that he could see around the machine, Heero spotted another beautiful wood desk. The executive style chair behind it was unmistakably a top-of-the-line item as well. This Dr. Hibiki hadn't spared himself any expense, had he? Yuy went straight for it. If there was a likely spot to find a computer, that desk was it.

He had to lower the chair a bit to sit comfortably; Hibiki must have been fairly tall. He found the computer immediately. Like the one in Une's desk at Preventers, it was built into the desktop. It didn't look like a screen would pop up so it was probably a virtual unit. The controls were easily found as well. Hibiki had obviously considered this lab a very secure spot, there had been no effort spent here to hide any of the operational equipment.

One touch brought the power on. That was a relief. Only about half of the computers they'd found had power to them any longer. The virtual screen he'd expected flickered into being over the desk a few seconds after the computer came on. Heero stretched his fingers once, then got down to serious hacking.

Hibiki hadn't been completely confident of his hidden door's security though, just getting into the unit took him a good half hour. Once in though, there was a lot of stuff that was readily accessible. Among that data was a series of masters for brochures touting the services G.A.R.M. was offering. Reading a couple of them was enlightening.

Coordinators were a good deal more altered than he'd thought. And these people's genetic sciences were well beyond anything he'd ever heard of outside of the most far-fetched of fiction. No wonder the local, unaltered population was scared of them! He checked, found he could upload from these files into the colony mainframe, and copied the lot out to a separate file. Zechs and the others would find this very interesting. Fairly disturbing too if he was any judge.

The rest of the accessible materials were too technical for him to follow without real study. He didn't have the time for that now unfortunately. He did find one interesting file though. Marked as 'public relations', it had what seemed to be news articles in it. They appeared to be largely about G.A.R.M.'s services and the qualifications of its staff. One he opened had a very clear picture of three men.

Heero studied it. The one on the right, a trim, good-looking older man of unmistakable Asian extraction, reminded him of G in a crafty mood. Not that they looked anything alike really, but the eyes had an unmistakably similar look. So this was Dr. Ito eh? He could see why Yamato might not fully trust the man.

The one on the left was an equally striking elderly black man with pure white hair. He was identified as a Dr. Joel Hathaway, Deputy Director. At least he looked more honest than that Ito character.

It was the tall, rather handsome man in the center who locked his attention though. So this was Dr. Hibiki, Director of G.A.R.M. Interesting how that warm smile on his mouth didn't even touch those cold eyes. Heero could feel his own lips curving in an answering smile, but he knew his was more honest, it at least matched his eyes.

Heero Yuy had met serious ambition before. The shadow of it still lurked in Dr. J. It had utterly dominated the old man who'd paid to create their Gundams, and died at the hand of one of his own when he betrayed a younger Mariemaia. A gentler but no less resolute version of it was the steel in Relena's spine. But looking at the old picture, he knew only one man who could match what he was seeing here.

Treize Khushrenada had once had ambition like this. And the whole of planet Earth had followed him as he brought it to a completely unexpected fulfillment. The Zero pilot shook his head slowly; Wu Fei was probably going to be dealing with that outcome for the rest of his life. Yet Khushrenada had been absolutely honest in his own strange way and he had held himself accountable for every life lost at his behest.

This man though, this one was not honest. Not like Treize had been. The ambition he could see here was completely untempered by any trace of concern for anyone his actions might hurt. This one would have kept better company with Duke Dermail or old Barton. He still didn't know why Kira Yamato disliked him, but he was quite sure no one with the innate personal integrity of the other Gundam pilot would ever work or even casually associate with someone like Hibiki voluntarily.

Zechs should see this. He might have a better grasp of some of the information in the articles as well. And if he didn't, well, J and G would. He copied and exported the file into the new database he was building for them all to review.

A loud crash jerked his head up. Duo was holding a file folder in his hand and leaning against the mysterious black machine, visibly fighting not to throw up. The American was ghost white, and blindingly enraged.

"You sick fucker! You disgusting little cocksuckin' son-of-a-bitch! Wrong, I apologize to every bitch in two universes! Ozzie trash was cleaner than you are! _Tuberov_ was a better man! Hell," Duo raged, eyes a virulent purple as Shinigami flared to full life in him as he turned his wrath on the folder in his hand, "Barton was a _saint_ next ta you!"

He rolled slightly and met Heero's surprised gaze. "'Ro, ya gotta see this. Yamato's gotta know some of it but I bet he don't know it all."

"What . . .?"

Maxwell gave a sharp slash with the hand holding the folder. "We came lookin' fer answers. Wish to God I hadn't found 'em! These bastards were sick, 'Ro, sicker'n Dekim Barton ever was."

Heero jumped up and dragged the chair over close enough to tip Maxwell into it. A firm hand on the back of the other's neck forced his head down not quite even with his knees. He held him there while Duo waged war with his outrage and stomach, and won both fights.

When the Deathscythe pilot's breathing evened out, Heero let go. He sank down until he was even with Duo's eyes and studied them. He saw the same anger but Shinigami had stepped back a bit now. It would be possible to talk with him again.

"What did you find?" Heero asked quietly.

"He experimented on his own kid, 'Ro." The eyes were sick now. "The bastard had some nutso idea about 'building the Ultimate Coordinator' and he used his own son for it!"

The folder dropped to the floor, the contents spilling out a bit as Duo dropped his head into his hands. "His wife was expecting twins. He knocked her out, took the boy outta her womb without tellin' her, an' left the girl for a control!"

He looked up, eyes furious and tear filled. "Who does stuff like that? Yanks their own kid outta the womb and _experiments_ on 'em?!"

Duo shuddered. "He bragged that even his own staff didn't know what he was doin'. About how much recognition he'd be gettin' for this 'groundbreaking work'! That this time, he had the right genetic materials to work with, he wasn't gonna hafta deal with one more 'disappointing error'."

"He called a child a 'disappointing error'?" Heero asked, trying to wrap his own mind around the thought of a man who could regard his own children as genetic experiments.

"Yeah," the American grinned, a seriously frightening look this time. "From what I read, he'd done this before; experimented on his own kid, but they'd all been test-tube kids. This was the first one he grabbed from his wife. Heero, I don't know how many he used, and killed, but the number has to run into the hundreds. I know at least one survived 'cause he was pissed that the kid escaped. Most of 'em don't seem to have lived long enough to even get born. What the fuck have we found here?"

Heero was stunned at the answer that bubbled up out of his sub-conscious. "Kira."

Duo jerked upright. "What?!"

But the Japanese pilot suddenly understood a great deal. "We've found Kira Yamato. This is why he is so different from the other Coordinators. This is why he doesn't want to know what is in this place. One of twins, Duo. And his sister, his _Natural_ sister, is Chief Representative of Aube. Recall that documentary J had us watch on the influential people of this place. Yamato and his twin were featured in that. Someone even called him something like the ultimate in Coordinator development!"

Maxwell nodded slowly. "Ok, makes sense. It sure would explain why he really, really, despised this G.A.R.M. group. He knows enough to understand that he doesn't wanna know any more too."

"I wonder if he knows who his biological father was." Heero looked around the lab with new eyes, seeing it now as a peculiar but fitting memorial to arrogance and what had to have been a quite genuine genius gone very, very wrong.

"You remember I told ya how Joule reacted when I asked who Hibiki was?" Duo smiled darkly. "Oh yeah, he knows. So do Joule and Elsman. But I bet there aren't a lot of others who do."

Heero straightened up. "Maybe not but I would guess that Yamato thinks too many do. Duo, copy that file and if there is one for the sister, that one too. I think we've found more than enough to give J and G something to work with. While you do this, I'll see if there is a general report of some kind on this that I can get to and then we will go back to base. I've had enough of exploring for one day."

"Yeah." The agreement was heartfelt. He took the chair back to the computer while the American gathered the folder off the floor. He was already deep into his search by the time Duo set up the recorder to copy the file. He quickly found he wasn't going to be getting into the truly secure sections of this computer without a lot of work. Whoever had done the programming was both exceptionally skilled and as defensive as Heero himself. He snarled at the screen and began to dig.

Knuckles wrapped on the desk some unknown time later. Heero looked up to find a grim Maxwell looking back. He had their recording pack with him, all the gear neatly stowed back in it.

"Got 'em copied. Let's blow this place. I'm tired of the ghosts."

He gave it a few seconds consideration, then nodded. "Fine. I've got a bit more but it will take days to crack all that's in here."

"Anything interesting?" Duo asked, then quickly amended, "anything interesting that won't turn my stomach that is."

"All of it is interesting. But one that stands out is a file on one of the so-called 'failures'. We need to watch for an individual called Canard Pars. He was the child who escaped. Considering what was documented in his records, his stability could be very questionable and his ability level will be fairly close to Yamato's."

"Oh, a crazy Ultimate Coordinator! Great. Way to make someone's day Yuy."

Heero closed out his work before looking up at the American dryly. "Would you rather run into him _not_ knowing what he was?"

"I'd rather not run into him period."

Yuy just quirked an eyebrow at that remark. Duo didn't respond. He had the pack slung on his back now and was unmistakably anxious to just leave. Heero turned off the computer, readjusted the chair to the height he'd found it at, and carefully put it back exactly where he'd found it. He didn't bother to ask if Duo had done the same for the files he'd been working on, he knew the other pilot had.

They slipped out and relocked the door. Getting back to base took most of an hour. They'd been out here almost twelve hours. That was too long to be in a place as malignant as this one. As he stepped through the hatch though, Heero knew he wasn't going to volunteer to go back up there. Yamato was right. There were things it was better to leave lost to history. And he'd just been poking around in one. No, if Merquise wanted to investigate this further, he could do it himself.

Heero wondered if there was enough hot water and soap on this unmitigated cesspit of a colony to ever let him feel clean again.

* * *

For a brand new building, the former Preventer Headquarters in Sanq had some interestingly medieval touches. The Sun could only wonder why Une had bothered to have hidden passageways built into the whole place. He did understand the extensive security they boasted though. If one was going to have such anachronistic things, the least one could do was make sure nothing slipped up on one through them.

They did allow for absolutely secret meetings though and perhaps that was their real purpose. He could move unseen and unnoticed through the surprisingly heavy walls here. Access to the security control room for these passages gave him over-ride capacity for every office in the building as well. If he wanted a room to appear empty, it did, no matter what was really happening there.

The coded message had been marked urgent. Given who had sent it, he believed that. Terra was seen as the weakest member of the Council by most but the members who thought so underestimated the formidable old woman badly. There was nothing weak about Dame Billingsly period. Her observant silence and cunning strength was the rock his own power rested on. She knew it and occasionally took small advantages of it to deal with her own enemies.

But she also knew she was too old to be able to create the kind of following she'd need to hold the absolutely power of the Solar Mantle as well. Were she even ten years younger, and ten years healthier, she'd probably be his most dangerous opponent. Since she knew her own limits though, they made her his most reliable lieutenant. Her vision for the planet and the colonies was very nearly the same as his, and he still could build a personal army.

She though, planned to be a quite genuine power behind the throne. He was quite content for her to be so. It made her a larger target than he was in some ways. Anything that deflected a strike away from himself was a thing to be kept and cherished until its usefulness ran out.

He checked the small security panel by the door of the office she'd chosen and saw her waiting by the window for him. The other half of the screen showed what the main security board would be displaying; an empty office lit only by the moonlight pouring in through windows left undraped at the close of the workday. He smiled coldly and closed the panel, letting it blend back into the wall as he tripped the catch on the door and let himself in.

"Ah, I was beginning to wonder if that babbling fool was ever going to leave; he's made you late again."

"Don't criticize Jupiter so harshly. And he wasn't babbling tonight. He was being quite direct in fact. He'd marshaled his arguments quite well too."

She shrugged. "Yes I'm rather sure he did. Despite his background, the man isn't really stupid, just a bit besotted with his new office and all the bright boom-making things he's in charge of."

"He's got a point and you know it."

The moonlight washed the color out of her pale blue eyes, leaving them looking disturbingly white and dead as she gave him a small smile with no mirth in it at all. "Who do you think has been seeing to it the information came his way?"

He stepped up beside her to stare out the window although he wasn't really looking at what was out there. "I assumed you were. He's too new to the office; he hasn't had the chance to build his own intelligence service yet. And I do admit Venus is damned efficient at protecting her secrets. He doesn't have anyone who could gather that kind of data for him on his staff."

He cocked his head at her. "Now, how much of it was true?"

An unmistakably bitter grimace twisted her lips in a grotesque parody of a smile. "Unfortunately, all of it."

He turned, eyes widening slightly. "All of it? The stupid bitch has really created that 'Iron Fist' unit?"

She nodded. "And she's beginning to use them too. She's impatient and she hates too well. Her judgment is poor in this area as well. Worse, she despises the so-called 'unwashed masses'. She underestimates them severely and overestimates her ability to terrorize them into abject submission. Nor is she at all concerned that we have too few troops for what we are trying to do. She wants it, it will work out as she desires, she allows herself to see nothing else. It is very unfortunate that she knows your real name."

"So you've said before," he agreed evenly. "The Countess believes it will be a blackmail tool for years. She thinks wrongly."

"Quite so." The old woman stepped to her right to take one of a pair of chairs set before the windows. "Blackmail weapons have a dangerous tendency to dull with time. Exposure of your name is rapidly becoming unimportant in the grand scheme of things. In truth, it won't be all that long before you will be able to discard your mask and stand openly, the only man left who backed the first Heero Yuy and fought for the colonies by building White Fang. No, the day is only a few weeks off when you will be stronger known for yourself than you will be as The Sun of the Council."

"Yes, yes, I understand this. But I doubt you bothered to send that note just to tell me this." He sank into the comfort of the other chair with a silent relief, he'd been too long on his feet today, getting off them was wonderful.

"I told you, Kirsten has begun to use her supposedly secret Iron Fist."

"If the data you gave Jupiter is accurate, she has no more than fifteen men. They may be dangerous men, but fifteen is a small number."

"Quinze, she sent them into Hawaii about seven hours ago. My agent only saw the very last of their work and their retreat. He knows at least one local, identity unknown, also saw at least as much as he did."

The Sun turned abruptly angry eyes to her. "And what did he see?"

"They slaughtered the Hibiscus Commune. Right down to the children's pets."

He jerked up, "They slaughtered Peace Hounds? What kind of idiot is that bitch?"

"One who is expecting to go in tomorrow with a camera crew and blame it on the Preventers hold up by Pearl Harbor."

He understood immediately. "Where are the images being shown?"

"On the 'Free Skies' website." She turned to glare at the innocent moon. "We were granted one small piece of luck, whoever it was only had a still camera. The picture quality isn't particularly high either. It is impossible to miss the glint of moonlight off of the heavy blades they were using but the light wasn't strong enough to make their uniforms really recognizable to anyone who hasn't seen the pictures of her new Iron Fist outfits. Unfortunately, those uniforms are nothing like the ones the Preventers wear. No, not even the most self-deluded are going to see this as a Preventer attack. Especially not after that too-clever Une witch went so far out of her way in that latest broadcast to plead with those over-confident mules to step back and shut up!"

"They aren't anything like the uniforms the rest of our forces wear either," he pointed out irritably.

"Be grateful for that small favor. It will let us paint them as an unknown rogue faction. The Preventers won't be fooled but given how different those baggy pants and baroque vests are, the general run of the masses aren't likely to immediately believe they're ours either."

"We must eliminate that team," Dame Amanda Billingsly said coldly.

He just nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, and I believe I have just the man to do it."

"He'd better work quickly. This kind of luck won't hold if Kirsten goes on a killing spree," she warned.

"I do understand that," he snapped. "The boy is young, bright, ambitious, very capable and smart enough to be exceptionally cautious."

"He'll need all of that to take this group down."

Quinze just smiled grimly. "Maybe and maybe not. It will depend on how secure they feel under her protection and how arrogant they are. This lad can work with the openings both will give him. He's due down from space in the morning. I believe I can have a covert assignment ready for him by tomorrow evening. If he behaves anything like he has on other assignments, he'll be ready to move long before they're going to be expecting any serious opposition."

He eyed her, "How much can I count on you for intelligence on this Iron Fist?"

"I will have everything I have on them rounded up and sent to your office by noon."

"That should do," he agreed, leaning forward to stand.

His phone rang before he could get up. He frowned, his people knew better than to disturb one of his 'trips' out of his secure office. This had better be worth the interruption.

"Yes?" He snapped as he held the unit to his ear.

"Excellency," Major Triton's unmistakable voice was shaking. "Your Excellency, we've just received word that the mobile suit plant has been destroyed. None of our staff appear to have survived. The cruiser, _Crimson Sword_, was in the area. She arrived less than three hours after she registered the explosions. Captain Bahomat reports the factory asteroid is in at least sixty pieces. None of the suits appear to be salvageable and most of the manufacturing supplies were also destroyed. He is searching the area for any trace he can find of the attackers and awaits your orders for any other action you may wish taken."

The Sun could only stare at the phone in shock.


	25. Chapter 25

**Crossing Barriers**

Beta Reader: T'Amara

Chapter : 25

Disclaimer: I still do not own any part of Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed. They still belong to their respective creators and production companies. I do still own my own OC's and the plot though.

Ok, despite appearances, I am really not dead. A tad confused maybe but not dead. Sorry about the delay. Life handed me some lemons and learning to make lemonade took a bit. It didn't help to have Kira and Yuy decide to go south for the winter again either. Given my current track record, I'm making no promises on when chapter 26 will be up. I will _try_ to make it faster than this one though. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy number 25.

* * *

If one was honest, the _Hungry_ _Hatchling_ really didn't deserve to be called a cruiser. As far as size went, it was actually smaller than most destroyers. But it was massively over-engined for the hull size and supported weaponry no real cruiser would be ashamed to have. It also boasted one of the most top-of-the-line sensor suites available. Which was damned important at the moment as the small ship slowly tumbled end over end through the Debris Belt.

Captain Terasawa sat still and upright in the bridge command chair, combat restraints locked into place just like all the rest of the bridge crew's were. The ship had no internal gravity units on and the angular momentum of the tumble assured that anyone not secured to their seat or hanging solidly onto a passageway guide strip was going to be bouncing off the bulkheads. At the moment, none of the external screens were in active display. The constant feeling of being pulled out of your seat was bad enough, they really didn't need anyone having a visually triggered nausea episode on the bridge.

"Feed coming in now from an Earth-based location." Juri Pierson's cold voice suddenly spoke clearly from his place at the Comm station. "Source tracking underway. Destination tracking underway."

"Carry on," Terasawa replied evenly, very pleased to have picked the signals up this soon after launch.

"ZAFT patrol craft and mobile suits are now passing behind a very dense cluster of debris." Mickey reported. "They are at twenty-three hundred klicks and continuing to move away from us."

"Noted," Ilene managed not to smile, they'd slipped right by the Coordinators! "Maintain monitoring of ZAFT until we are out of their sensor range."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Unfortunately, even as the Debris Belt's rotation carried the base past the PLANTs, it brought the _Hatchling_ toward an area quite likely to hold one of the Blue Cosmos bases. So they were going to be stuck in this annoying tumble for at least three days as they moved steadily past the site and any possible sensors there. Worse, by this time tomorrow, everyone was going to have to be wearing their evacuation suits and the ship was going to have to be depressurized. Tumbling along wouldn't do much good if Blue Cosmos scanned their way and registered the 'wreck' still had air and internal heat after all.

The hard, lead-rich, deep-space worthy shells of their old-fashioned evac suits blocked all scans that would tell anyone checking if it was in use or not. A more modern suit displayed occupancy and the state of the occupant. Ilene had seen to it that her people had the older style for just this reason. This was _not_ the first time they'd done this to recon a target.

She didn't envy the nine who'd volunteered to play 'drifting dead' though. Not only were they going to be stuck in their suits for at least fifteen hours, they got to bounce off the bulkheads too. Everyone else was going to be strapped down at least, playing a crew dead at their posts. There would come a time when this kind of thing would be dangerous, when so much of the war wrack had been cleared that to find a ship of the dead would immediately draw a recovery team to it. But not yet. Today there were still far, far too many ships rolling along in the Debris Belt in just that condition.

"Captain," Second Comm Kitajima was keeping sharp watch on the broadcast news channels. "_Kusanagi_ has docked. Joule and the others are expected to disembark in about fifteen minutes. _Archangel_ is reported to be fifty minutes out."

She nodded in grim satisfaction. "Begin the multi-source recordings then."

"Ma'am!"

Those would be reviewed many times for any and all clues they might hide regarding that odd gold light seen at the end of the battle. That light was the only thing about the fight that really worried her. Because if it _wasn't_ some experimental drive system blowing up, then there was a very serious new weapon around somewhere. Given who survived, ZAFT owned it. And that was about as bad as it could get for anyone thinking to strike at the PLANTs. Unfortunately, she really didn't think they'd be careless enough to drop any real data. Still, even ZAFT's best made mistakes occasionally.

A quiet satisfaction filled her. They were going to get away clean here. ZAFT had been pulling their people back to the immediate area around the PLANTs ever since Joule and the others had been found alive. Their last rescue ships had left Endymion last night. The entire fleet sent to Mendel had escorted the _Kusanagi_ back, the Alliance _Nelson_s staying with them until they reached the first of the PLANTs defense lines before they turned back for the Moon and their base there. Patrols had been sharply stepped up and their areas tightened but they too were not venturing as far out as usual. Indeed, that last one Juri was tracking was the only one still in sensor range. They were going to get the last of their people and all three ships away very soon now. By the time _Archangel_ docked, their base would have rotated far enough past the PLANTs to be out of range of the main sensors. The shuttles would leave then. By mid-watch, the huge old shell would be far enough away to allow the ships to slip out behind its cover as well.

They continued on, largely silent, focusing on what their instruments told them about conditions around them and movements of the enemy. They watched the fairly brief press conference given by Clyne. Joule was the only speaker for the three survivors and he denied having any idea of what the gold light had been. The only bit of interesting data to come out of it was his remark that it had completely cleared a corridor through the tight-packed wreckage around the colony and that the corridor reached almost to the next colony. Whatever the source really was, if it wasn't a weapon yet, it was a sure bet there was already research underway to _make_ it one.

The press conference three hours later given by the _Archangel_ was interesting but offered nothing really new. Captain Ramius, Commander Waltfeld, and La Flaga did give the first-hand survivor descriptions expected though. Terasawa though it interesting that Zala was more conspicuous by his absence than his presence from that little show. Still, she did wonder just what the _Archangel_'s people were up to. For each one made a point of noting just how much more damage the Vulture Fleet could have done than they actually did. They were still the 'evil-bad' pirates right enough. But they weren't the evil-bad _insane_ pirates that was the usual description of her people.

It bothered her. Her reputation was based on that impression of functional-but-murderously-crazy. The attack the three of them described was a lot more like a planned, military assault. And that was not a thought she wanted people to keep regarding her behavior. She set herself to ponder this, and how to most safely but sincerely, turn minds back to the old thought patterns.

******************************

Housekeeping was not Quatre's favorite among the chores rotation. He disliked the heavy, often obstinate, waste bin he had to tow around because it was the only one that fitted the facilities incinerator. He would almost rather get into a full-on Gundam battle than clean bathrooms. Especially one the ladies had been using. One stumbled on the most embarrassing things in their wastebaskets sometimes! Really, he fully understood why Wu Fei would occasionally come faltering back into the pilot's corridor, eyes more than a bit wild after completing his turn at this. He also understood why Duo would come back from the same chore snickering.

Of course, to be brutally honest about it, he was nearly as embarrassed when Relena or, worse yet, Dorothy cleaned the pilot's quarters. Thank Allah that Zechs had made it clear from the very start that everyone's bed was their own responsibility and no one was to touch someone else's without express permission! Even so, he knew the five of them made every effort to empty _some_ wastebaskets before the contents could be seen by anyone else at all.

It hadn't been possible today of course. Not with all that had gone on starting so fast this morning. He'd barely been dressed when the entire colony had begun to shake around him, the uneven harmonics of multiple, out-of-tune engines making his head ache instantly. It hadn't stopped him from following everyone else to the control room though, or slowed him at breakfast while he helped Relena keep the conversation limited to the safest, and most innocuous, topics either of them could think of. Fortunately, it had faded before they got into the actual opening of negotiations with Commander Joule.

He really should have started this just as soon as they'd verified that the rescue ship, _Kusanagi_, had taken their visitors aboard. But there had been those fascinating inter-ship conversations to monitor as the ZAFT and Alliance ships had arrived. Joule hadn't been exaggerating the degree of distrust between Coordinators and Naturals at all. It had been so enlightening to eavesdrop on their interactions!

It was a relief to close Relena's door and slink back to the room he and Trowa shared. At least he already knew what was in the basket here. Being the organized soul he was, Quatre left the baskets for last though as he wiped down the bath and set one of the little automatic units they'd found here to vacuum the floor. Making the bed was a simple matter of tossing the sheets and blankets into enough order to more or less cover the thing. Zechs didn't really do room inspections and, in the interests of keeping everyone calm and agreeable while they were cooped up in this space, he limited his demands to keeping things clean enough not to smell up the place. Considering how Duo liked to make nests out of his bedding, that was quite wise of him. The last thing he did was grab the basket beside the bed and dump it into the despised incinerator waste bin.

Quatre Raberba Winner was a very multi-dimensional young man. One of those dimensions was being exceptionally well trained at avoiding leaving physical evidence of his presence lying around. The Gundam Pilots had had to function as infiltrators more than once, and an infiltrator whose genetics were known could be in significant trouble if the enemy programmed those into its guard facilities. For all his dislike of cleaning, he was much more thorough about it than his attitude would suggest. And while his standards were somewhat lower here where they really were complete unknowns, they hadn't actually slipped all that much. So while he didn't honestly count, the back of his mind did make note of a specific, unexpected, discrepancy between what it knew should have been there, and what fell into the bin.

He was almost four years away from the Eve Wars now, instead of fully registering the mismatch simply set up an unease in his mind. That unease was reinforced when he got far enough to empty Wu Fei's bedside basket. But it was when he completed the set in Duo and Heero's room that it finally got solid enough to bring him to a stop. Despite his distaste for touching the things, Quatre sifted carefully through the bin until he could account for every used condom in it. Unless he was very, very wrong, and he didn't think he was, the count was short by at least five.

He sat carefully on the edge of Duo's rumpled bed as he considered the neat line he'd made of the evidence from the bin. Oddly, he had no questions what had happened. Someone had gone to some fairly dangerous lengths to get some answers. He was quite sure he knew who as well. Kira Yamato didn't think like this but Commander Joule was a very different story. Joule was suspicion personified, much like Heero in that way actually although he didn't seem to have Yuy's outright security paranoia, and for all his likeable nature, Wing Elsman didn't actually cross his commander very often. Either of them could have done this during the brief break between breakfast and the onset of the negotiations. After all, all of their own people had stayed in the lounge at Zech's request while he went over what he was expecting from the meeting. Even Heero had stayed until the thing was actually underway.

A very loud crash jerked his attention away from the condoms. Someone had just thrown open a heavy door with far more force than it truly needed. Given where the sound had come from, Heero and Duo were finally back. And one or both were in very, very, bad moods. He swept the neat line into a large scrap of paper from the bin and carefully put them back in it. There were raised voices now, one of them Duo's. This might not be the time to tell the others about this. He towed the bin out of the room and left it beside the incinerator while he went to get a handle on what was going on.

"…don't fuckin' give a shit what you want Merquise!" Duo Maxwell's voice not only carried well, the tone told Quatre that whatever the Deathscythe pilot had found had pushed him very, very close to outright hysteria. And that meant it was also very, very bad. Because Duo did not _get_ hysterical, period. He broke into a quick trot. Someone was going to have to shut Duo down until he could get control of himself and since Heero didn't seem to be doing it, that left the job in his hands.

He slowed markedly as he came to the last corner, unwilling to seem in any undue hurry. With Duo so upset, he needed to be as calm, and as ruthlessly controlled as he could. Nothing else would give him the leverage to bring the raging American under control. So while he was still moving quickly, he saw to it that the person who stepped around the corner was the CEO of Winner Enterprises, and not just 'Quat'.

Duo was glaring up at Zechs, Shinigami visibly floating very close to the surface. This was worse than he'd expected. And it was the Lightening Count staring back down with dangerously narrowed eyes. That wouldn't help either. A swift glance showed him Yuy was locked down in Perfect Soldier mode, and also both upset and unwilling to back down. No, this was not good. It was made worse a second later when Relena and Dorothy appeared. Quatre had enough experience reading Heero Yuy to suddenly understand that whatever they'd found, it had made the other almost frightened for Relena. He had to get them out of this confrontation and make them explain what was wrong.

"Duo! Heero!" Quatre snapped before they'd really registered he was there, the tone in his voice denying any room for either argument or disobedience. "That's enough! I want everyone in the lounge, now. We will go over what you've found there."

He turned cold eyes on Merquise as well. "Colonel, while they get whatever they've found set up to show us all, I would appreciate a moment of your time."

Duo opened his mouth but Quatre beat him to it. "Now, Duo! Whatever you two have, it clearly needs to be discussed immediately. You have five minutes to get it ready. Yuy, make sure you have the big screen slaved to your computer. I will want to see what you have on those discs in your hand."

When the three of them just stood there in mild shock, he gave them his very best CEO stare and added with a dangerous soft voice, "You have your orders."

That worked. Heero grabbed Duo by the arm and headed for the lounge, the suddenly unresisting American in tow. The shouting had finally brought Mariemaia and Trowa as well, leaving only Noin steadfast at the boards. And it was Trowa who made sure they all followed the scowling Wing pilot, at a safe distance, as he whipped around the corner and was gone. The Arab let himself draw a soundless breath of relief when not even Mariemaia protested.

"Winner." Zech's voice was cold but neutral.

He turned to the taller man, his own voice just as uncompromising. "It is not wise to let Shinigami take over, Colonel and you were about to have him in your face. Whatever has happened, Duo's control over the darker side of his nature, and he _does_ have a quite nasty side, is paper thin right now. Do not push him. He isn't the best fighter among us, but when he loses it, he is the most ruthless and inventive. He also loses the ability to recognize when he should _stop_ fighting as well. You've seen the aftermath of a Deathscythe strike, you should understand that."

Merquise studied him for a long moment, as the Lightening Count slowly receded and Preventer Wind stepped forward, then just nodded sharply. "Yes, I have."

Quatre nodded back, a more gracious gesture this time. "Before we join them, and I think we need to put the board on auto and have Noin join us as well, you need to know something."

A single slightly raised eyebrow was the only response.

"Someone, and I suspect Commander Joule, saw to it that they took some genetic samples back to those PLANTs with them."

"Excuse me, genetic samples?"

"We use condoms, Colonel. And some are missing from the trash today." Quatre said it as flatly as he could, trying not to blush even if it was embarrassing as hell to say.

Zech's eyes narrowed to blue diamonds again. "Missing? You are sure?"

"Quite."

"I, . . . . . ., see."

"I should have expected it." The smaller blond admitted. "No one in their right mind is going to be ready to accept the idea of travel across dimensions without some kind of proof. And these people seem to have a tremendous focus on their own genetics. It would make sense to have them grab such readily available samples to test to see if we really are aliens."

"How did they even know such would be available in the first place?" Zechs asked quietly.

"Ah, that was Duo's idea," Quatre admitted with a small shrug. "They picked the rooms directly behind the room Heero shares with Duo and mine and Trowa's. This place is well built but it isn't as soundproof as it might be. He thought if he warned them, it would save embarrassment all around."

One pale eyebrow rose and a corner of the mouth quirked up slightly. "That actually makes considerable sense. I'm rather surprised it was Maxwell who came up with it."

"He's significantly brighter than he wants anyone to know." The Arab gave the other a sharp glance. "You might want to remember that going forward. And you might want to remember that Heero has broadened his horizons all out of expectation as well. They always were a formidable team and they've only gotten better with time and experience at life. Duo's sometimes a prankster too. Be very aware, when he gets as far off base as he is now, his pranks can turn dangerous. Do not enrage him if you can avoid it, Yuy will not try to stop him at the moment and he's the only one of us who really can deal with Shinigami in full cry."

"He listens to you."

Quatre shook his head. "No, you missed the real dynamic. Heero listened to me and hauled Duo off. Duo heard me, but he would not have left the argument on his own. We were lucky. He's still solid enough to know when to not fight with Heero. When he's calmer, then yes, Duo will usually follow my lead. But he is an independent soul at the best of times. Today, Colonel, is absolutely not the best of times."

"Yes," Merquise returned dryly. "I did notice that."

Quatre gave the man a dark look. "Then I recommend that you keep it very much in mind. Because Duo isn't the only one of them pushing an edge. Heero is not at his most stable at the moment either. Something they found has seriously affected him. Whatever is up there, it is bad, very bad. You will need to keep your own control as solid as you can. Believe it or not, we have all gotten to the point where we do see you as the leader of this mess. If you slip, Duo will be over the edge and he may take Yuy with him. We need you to be a rock, Merquise. I suspect those two won't be the only ones who need an anchor before their presentation is over. You are the only candidate available for that. Noin is too much of a friend for it and Relena, well, lets just say Heero is far too aware of her as a girl for it."

"I've noticed that," Zechs agreed quietly. "Relena hasn't yet but then, Yuy hides his feelings very well. And Winner, I do appreciate the input."

A small movement of a hand stopped Quatre as he was about to head for the lounge himself. Zechs had an odd expression on his face, as if he was trying to decide if he should speak or not. Curious, the Sandrock pilot waited for the other to make up his mind. He was a bit startled, when he met the older man's eyes, to realize that Merquise was more worried than he'd thought.

"Winner," he began slowly, "did something seem off with Yuy to you?"

"He is almost as upset as Duo over whatever they've found," Quatre agreed quietly.

"No," the blond hair barely stirred as he returned the smallest of shakes. "It wasn't about that, or perhaps it would be better to say it wasn't focused on that."

A tilt of the head and a silent question, one that Merquise interpreted quite accurately. "It was the way he kept watching Relena out of the corner of his eye, as though he was expecting some enemy to appear out of thin air and attack her."

It was Quatre's turn to shake his head slightly. "No, I would say there is no immediate threat. Heero has locked down in Perfect Soldier mode but he isn't acting like he does when he's expecting imminent action. Whatever they found, it is a long term issue."

Zechs' eyes narrowed instantly to slits of blue fire as he pounced on that wording. "A threat?"

Quatre shrugged, "The word choice is perhaps too strong at the moment. I would think it more a potential to become one if we aren't careful."

He spoke to reassure the other; he absolutely did not need Zechs going off his own deep end right now too. This space was too small for sharing with the Lightening Count and Shinigami both in kill mode. Not to mention the problems they'd all have if they found themselves dealing with Yuy having an honestly serious attack of real paranoia right about now. And that didn't begin to address the issues he'd been having with Trowa for the last few weeks either! No, there was no room in this place for letting that kind of thing run. It would do Crimson Dawn's work for them.

"I see." The narrowed eyes turned toward the lounge as though he could see through the walls. "Then we need to assess what they've found, right now."

Quatre found himself almost trotting to keep up with Merquise's long strides. The man wasn't running by any means, but he was walking just about as swiftly as he could. Oddly, this was something of a relief. Because now he was sure that Zechs, if he did not outright approve, would at the very least not stand in the way, once this was over and they got the suspected implants out, when Heero turned to actually courting his sister. They would deal with what everyone else thought when they had to. It was enough for now to know the biggest potential obstacle wasn't one at all. He would have to save that for a good moment to tell Heero. Right now just wasn't the time.

Once again, Quatre cut his speed a few seconds before anyone else could see him in a hurry. His control of the team had always been based on making good decisions and projecting a solid confidence. Running at Zechs' heels would kind of ruin that impression. So he made sure he was walking when he stepped through the lounge door a few paces behind Merquise. Besides, he was fairly sure he wasn't going to like a lot of this. Why run to hear bad news?

***************************

Lars Bjork tossed the printout of the latest 'suggestions' from the Blue Cosmos bitch onto the desk and glared at them. Just who did she think she was? And just where did she think she was going to get the firepower to back up her attitude? There wasn't enough of that left to Blue Cosmos to take out the five ships that had joined the _Ice Dragon_ here on the dark side of the moon, let alone really make a strike at the PLANTs.

The vote would be tomorrow but he didn't have any worries. There really wasn't anyone else aboard to run against him. They had people who could do individual jobs aboard this ship but he was the only one with command experience and everyone knew it. This cabin would be his by right when that clock Dieter had loved so struck this hour again.

He snarled at the inoffensive wall in front of him, furious all over again at the loss of his friend and Captain. He'd make sure the whore who gave Dieter that sickness died if the Fever hadn't already done the job. He rather hoped it hadn't, he really, really needed to kill something right now and she'd do just fine as a tension reliever.

A knock at the cabin hatch dragged his mind from the pleasurable thoughts of just how he'd kill the slut and back to the ship he would soon lawfully command. "Come!"

The hatch opened and Rahm, the navigator, stepped thru. "Lars, got that stupid woman demanding answers. I've put her off about as long as I can. You got any ideas?"

The massive Swede snorted. "Lie to her."

"Been doin' that."

"No, I mean lie big to her," Bjork grinned savagely. "We need to get every ship here we can, to build our own Fleet, one that owes nothing to deadwood left over from the Valentine Wars. We need time."

"I got that already," Rahm said patiently. "What I ain't got is any more ideas on how to buy it."

"You think too small," he waved a hand at the bottles in the rack beside the desk. "Help yourself, you've earned it."

One quirked eyebrow told him the other man was interested but wary. He did help himself to the booze though. It wasn't often any of the crew got a chance at the quality stuff and none of them wasted the opportunities when they did drop by.

"What's thinkin' big look like to you then?" The slighter man asked as he poured himself a generous, but not unreasonable, quantity into one of the smaller of the late Captain Ruhde's brandy snifters. "You got a strange mind Lars, I don't always follow where it goes."

"We need to stay put until the Call draws us enough ships and men," Bjork told him, filling a much smaller glass with something even stronger than the brandy. "And we won't get the chance if we're running at Hannam's beck and call. So we need a solid reason to stay put."

"I follow that. What reason? You know the slut's not going to listen to much."

He shrugged. "We just tell her we have a new case of Jupiter Fever."

Rahm's head snapped up. "You lost it? Everyone else will split for the far side of the Belt if you talk like that! Jupiter Fever isn't somethin' anybody is gonna hang around with!"

"We tell the five here what we're doing before we get hold of the bitch," he said patiently, it wouldn't do to scare the wits out of his own crew. "And we let them warn each new ship as it comes in. They need to think of themselves as part of a new Fleet, so we trust them with this and keep our own long range comms down. Pretending to be in the Belt is all well and good but you know as well as I do that bouncing our signal out from here to our supposed 'hideout' and back to Blue Cosmos is dangerous. Sooner or later, someone is going to intercept the wrong transmission and blow our cover. We need a reason to shut up and drop out of sight. This will buy us at least a month."

Rahm opened his mouth, perhaps to protest, then closed it slowly as the possibilities began to suggest themselves to him. "Could work," he agreed cautiously. "What are you really after? I've known you for what, fifteen years now, yes? I may not understand your mind but I've seen it in action long enough to see you got somethin' more in your head."

Bjork leaned back in the comfort of the desk chair, glad for enough gravity to make real use of it as he picked his words with some care. "Have you given any thought to where we are going? To what the world will be like in a few years? To what our odds of success in that new environment will be?"

"Nope," he answered shortly. "I don't fancy too much thinkin'. It makes a body nervous. I don't like lookin' more'en a couple jobs ahead. It gets depressin'. Cooped up on a small ship ain't no place to be lookin' for depressin' things."

"You aren't going to make a Captain thinking like that," Bjork told him bluntly. "A Captain has to look ahead or he and his ship end up dead."

"I got no mind to try for the aft cabin. The job ain't worth it to me. That's your look-out."

"Yes, yes it is. And I'm looking. I don't like what I see either." Lars set the whiskey down and leveled ice blue eyes at his oldest surviving friend. "Blue Cosmos is a dead end. Oh, they'll hold on in some minor way down on the planet but they're finished as a real power for a good long while. They've been tarred with their association with LOGOS and all the death and destruction of two losing wars. The general population down there isn't with them any longer. And unless the Clyne bitch makes one whopper of a mistake, they aren't going to drift back to them. I do not expect that girl to make that mistake. Whatever one thinks of Coordinators, that one is one damn sharp one. And she's got good backup in the friendship she's building with her man's sister's nation too. Aube is the most militarily significant power on the planet at the moment and is likely to stay that way for at least the next ten years, perhaps longer. By that time, the world won't be so upset about Coordinators any more. They'll be used to the idea that the PLANTs are up there all right but that they're _peaceful_. Because Clyne will not attack. She'll defend, but she will not attack. She's no fool. She understands more about economics than any idol singer ever should. So she'll be a fair trader too. And given enough time with peace and honest trade, the failures of LOGOS and Blue Cosmos will only be magnified. Earth has too many dead, and too much damage from those stupid idiots who dropped Junius Seven. Earth's nations don't have the resources to rebuild their infrastructure and expand an aggressive military at the same time any more. So there will be peace. And peace will not be our friend."

Rahm considered that, then nodded slowly, "I can see that. No wars mean what military everyone has can be turned against us."

He looked up grimly. "We ain't strong enough and we ain't gonna get strong enough to take on the whole planet and the PLANTs. There just ain't enough of us."

"So, you do see it," Bjork nodded soberly. "Pirates historically have only flourished when there was a point of chaos they could use. In the wet-water days, that meant a lonely coast to haunt, a war to slip out into, or some governmental collapse that left a lawless land that could be exploited. With most of the earth nation's colonies gone now, we don't have the places to slip off to where we can rest and refit. The PLANTs will see to it that ZAFT stays strong enough to deal with any real effort we can make at hitting their resources and even if the North Atlantic rebuilds the L4 colonies, they won't leave them unprotected again. We have one and only one chance here. We must put together a strong enough fleet to cripple the PLANTs right now, when they aren't strong enough to recover from the assault, and one that can keep them crippled enough to give us the room we need. If we do that, we can dictate the terms we want to the resource starved nations down on the planet. But our window of opportunity won't last long. They are weak now, although they hide it well, but if we give them even six months to build up, they'll be too strong for us. If that happens, they'll hunt us down at their leisure. Make no mistake here Rahm, they will find us and they will destroy us. I don't plan to see that happen."

The navigator took a long swig of brandy, then grinned evilly at him. "I like a Captain with my interests at heart."

Lars grinned back, "then you'll love me."

"Oh, I plan to, I surely do. Now, where do you think we need to start?"

"By getting rid of Yamato and the rest of FAITH."

"Eh?" Rahm sat up sharply. "How? You saw what happened to everyone who went after the little sod!"

"No, we did not see," Bjork corrected coldly. "We saw the final outcome. But we don't know how it really happened. We need to know more about that gold light. Because our plans may all depend on being able to contain whatever it really is. So that's where we will start, by getting back in touch with Blue Cosmos in about a month. We'll use them to find out for us. And we'll let them think they're calling the shots while we do it. But when we take out the PLANTs, we'll take them down too. I don't think we'd be at all happy if we left Hannam at our backs."

"Got that right."

Rahm had duties and didn't linger. But Lars had no doubts that at least the gist of what he wanted them to accomplish would be well spread throughout the ships. A leader had to offer his people something to shoot for after all. And control of space was such an attractive goal. He downed the last of his whisky with a smile and a toast to the little black gods who ruled this airless void. Oh yes, he would honor them. And they would grant him victory.

***************************

Just one fitful fire burned barely illuminating even one of the eleven buildings of the 'secret' base; all that was left of the bonfire the Iron Fist had been celebrating around. The uneven light let him count six bodies. There were sixty-two more scattered about the secluded post; including the two rabid animals who had guided him here. They'd been more dangerous than the Fist really, but fortunately, they'd also been considerably less intelligent. And the way they were dressed would point fingers in quite useful directions too so their deaths couldn't be considered wasteful.

Too bad about the women though, they'd been victims twice over unfortunately. But it simply wasn't possible to do any rescue work here. This site had to be silenced, completely and with clear malice aforethought evident for the rest of the Special Teams to find. Still, he was quite sure they would see the difference between the dead of Iron Fist and the unlucky women they'd been using as whores. The later were at least laid out with dignity and their bodies circumspectly covered. He'd been quite careful to make as sure as he could that none of the Fist would have any dignity at all in death.

He stood beside his transport and stripped off all his outer clothing. It was heavily blood splattered and the tread on the boots was distinctive. There would be another group, whose distinctive footwear, and the specifically uniformed bodies of his late guides, who would now be suspect in this slaughter no matter what excuses they came up with. Implicating them should impress more than just the Sun too. Alone in the night, he was not at all reluctant to admit to a rising ambition that he would not be able to acknowledge anywhere else. Moving quickly, he tied the whole bundle as small as he could before he attached the lead weights. It wouldn't do to have it found too soon. Never would be good actually.

The small canoe moved silently into the sluggish current as he poled it away from the shore. Once far out enough to let the current take over for a bit, he added the pole itself to the bundle and continued his trip with the more maneuverable paddle. One day in the water where he planned to drop the incriminating bundle and the acids that dripped from the refinery outlet pipe would erase all evidence that could trace back to him. He withdrew silently into the night, quite sure the Sun would be very pleased with his work.

--------------------------------------------------------

The old man stared at the results of his first test. This was not possible! Then he gave the young man who'd brought these items to him a grim, sidelong look. So, when Lacus Clyne had asked his daughter-in-law to invent improbable rumors there really had been something to hide behind them.

"Where did these come from?" Roland Ito asked evenly.

"Does it matter yet?" Kira replied just as evenly. "The Chairwoman is looking for unbiased input here."

"Did she tell you it was Serin she went to when she needed a particular story discredited?"

The amethyst eyes looked at him expressionlessly. "I see no connection."

"Oh, of course not," Roland agreed coolly. "No, there is absolutely no possible connection between a silly story about dimensional holes in ZAFT warehouses and genetic samples that never came from any one or thing that had an Earth-based heritage. Nope, none."

Kira, already quite still, suddenly became a rock.

The old man turned back to the DNA spiral dancing over his desk. "Did they bring those mobile suits with them?"

"Yes."

He turned, surprised by the immediate and honest answer. "Want to tell me the rest of it?"

"Want to no," Kira told him candidly. "But you need to know. Then, I have something else I want you to looking for."

Roland considered all of the data he had so far and wondered what it was that would have Yamato of all people looking for his help. He was not blind. The young man did not like or trust him. Considering just how he'd learned of his heritage and all the messy and immoral things that had been done to create him, it honestly didn't surprise the geneticist that the lad was so wary. He'd been raised in a good home by decent people; things like G.A.R.M. had no place in the worldview he'd grown up with. No, Kira Yamato had some very real sticking points when it came to what his bedrock values did and did not consider acceptable. So when he admitted he needed help, all Roland did was raise one white eyebrow and let him tell his story.

"Let me be sure I understand this," Dr. Ito said slowly when Kira fell silent. "You actually believe this alien lad's story may be true?"

"I don't know what to believe." Kira stared fixedly at the wall. "But I do know if it really is accurate, the five of them may well be walking time bombs. And I've seen those suits up close now. None of them can be casually dismissed. In the hands of deluded or insane pilots, they all will be exceptionally dangerous. But if Yuy loses control with Wing Zero still in his hands, we will lose entire PLANTs. We honestly could lose most of them unless we got lucky. That is the most powerful single weapon I've ever seen short of Genesis or Requiem. And it works with a mobile suit, a unit small and agile enough to slip in almost anywhere in space. Yuy is experienced and highly skilled. He would be beyond dangerous if he lost control of his own mind."

The amethyst eyes glanced sidelong at him. "Truth, no mobile suit we have could survive a blast from Yuy's weapon. And I am including Strike-Freedom here too. He could take out nearly as much of a fleet as Genesis Alpha could as well."

Roland considered the information and sincerely didn't like it. This material was _alien_, damn it! It was going to be a stiff challenge to understand the portion of it that resembled normal human DNA. Now the boy wanted him to find evidence of some alien drug and decipher how it worked on said alien DNA too?

"You don't want small favors, do you?"

"This isn't asking for a favor," Kira said coldly. "Your entire surviving family lives in a PLANT. You have a deeply vested interest in the answer. Perhaps even more than I do."

"I see." Roland leveled frozen amber eyes at the ZAFT Commander. "Why not just blow up the colony and be rid of the threat then? What happens without them in their universe is not our concern."

"Why not agree with Blue Cosmos and commit mass suicide?" Yamato countered. "Who are we, Doctor? And just what do we really stand for?"

The smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth was small and bitter but quite real. "Yes, good questions. I do like you Kira. You do not back down from your own standards. You are really quite good for the PLANTs."

He turned back to the data scrolling up slowly on his computer. "Go away now. I'll get you answers as quickly as I can. How fast that will be is something I can't tell you yet but since I know what I'm looking for, it shouldn't take all that long to come up with some of the basics."

"What is your best estimate for not that long?"

"A week, tops."

Yamato hesitated, then nodded. "Anything you can get sooner, I would appreciate hearing about immediately."

"Who can I tell besides you?"

"Anyone wearing a FAITH badge." Kira offered him a wry grin. "That now includes both Adrian and Kayla by the way."

He turned startled eyes on the younger man. "You let some idiot pin a _FAITH_ badge on that fool girl? Have you lost your mind? She's a Natural!"

"So is my sister." He waved a dismissive hand. "And Captain Ramius. And Mu. They've been fully briefed now too. At least Kayla has reasons to be loyal to the PLANTs these days."

Roland directed a flatly serious stare at Yamato. "That's too many people in the know. This won't stay a secret."

"No, not in the long term." Kira agreed softly. "But then, it really only has to be one until they go home. And despite how many people know at least part of the story, I think it will hold up at least that long. Once they're gone and the doorway closed for good, it probably won't matter if it comes out. The evidence will be either very thin or gone altogether. It will be more than most will be willing to believe. And in that mass disbelief lies everyone's safety and sanity."

"And Miss Clyne had Serin come up with a dozen or more ways to explain away what initially happened," Roland nodded slowly. "With those stories already out there and more than half believed, setting up a few more will pretty much settle it for everyone but the die-hard conspiracy theory types. Yes, if the real proof goes away, you may well get away with this whole mess."

Kira hesitated, then said quietly, "Kayla says it is Medicine, that the Spirits will keep us safe. I think, this time, I want to believe her."

Roland put his eye to the microscope and muttered. "Perhaps I will too."

Kira Yamato heard that, and could only hope their belief would be justified as he closed the lab door behind him.

-----------------------------------------------------

The commercial entry and shipping control point for the PLANTs was generally known by the name bestowed by the Junk Guild; the Dock. All materials and persons arriving at the PLANTs who were not PLANT citizens came in through the massive facility. This was especially true for any and all shuttles arriving from Earth; doubly so for one that came from Alliance territory. The wars were over, for the moment, but the hatreds had yet to fade. So it came as no surprise to at least one of the eighteen passengers on the shuttle arriving from the Phoenix spaceport to be met at the customs point by ZAFT security personnel who were just short of openly hostile.

"Reason for your visit?" The sergeant was curt but the hostility lessened when she came to the head of a now very short line. Not a surprise really. No ZAFT child was likely to see a Natural woman in her late nineties as dangerous. She almost wished she'd thought to bring a walking stick; it would have made the whole thing funnier. Honestly, when would these children realize that danger didn't always arrive toting obvious weapons?

"I'm here to visit my grand-daughter and the great-grand-children," she replied serenely and truthfully, even if it was somewhat less than the entire truth.

"Papers please." At least he was a polite child; she handed them over readily.

"I wonder what he'd do if I let him see me," Puma said suddenly.

She didn't even let her eyes twitch toward the Spirit, let alone answer him. Cats! Their sense of humor was outright impossible sometimes.

"The quantity of jewelry listed here, what is this about?" the sergeant asked flatly.

"They are gifts. Each piece is intended for a particular individual," she explained calmly and with the honesty she knew would bewilder them. "They are Spirit Talismans. They will provide protection."

The young man and his partner stared at her like she'd suddenly acquired a second head. "Ah, what?"

She sighed softly. "They are, well, I suppose the easiest way to explain it to you folk is to call them religious tokens. It isn't a very accurate description and they are more than that of course but I've noticed PLANT-raised Coordinators don't seem to have any training regarding the Spirit World. You seem to be a people who do not even ask about what can not be seen, measured, and tested. But my great-grand-children are not going to live up here unprotected or ignorant of the Old Ways."

That last was said with the prim conviction so often associated with the old by the young. Puma was rolling on the floor, he was laughing so hard. She was hard-pressed to keep her face straight herself. These poor boys looked so confused! Really, it was just too easy to play the slightly senile old woman these days. Even Coordinators didn't look past what their eyes told them.

The two stepped back and consulted their station computer. As they did, Puma managed to roll back to his feet and pad over to it. One massive paw swept right through the space the unit occupied. She knew the computer would now tell those boys no more than the Spirit wanted them to know. Honestly, when you considered just how old Puma was, his tech savvy was impressive!

The boys watched their screen for a good minute before they turned back to her. The sergeant picked up the new sheaf of papers the machine printed out and handed them to her. She made a small show of looking them over but she already knew they would be in proper order. Puma had just 'fixed' the machine after all.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome to the PLANTs, Mrs. Spotted Horse."

"Thank you, gentlemen."

Maria Spotted Horse, currently the senior Medicine Woman of the First Nations and grandmother-in-law to a ZAFT Commander, calmly gathered up the papers, her new pass that would allow her into the PLANTs proper, her bag, and her Spirit Guide before she headed off to catch the shuttle. Her grand-daughter's home was on Aprilus, a good hours transit from here. More important, somewhere out here was the Daughter of the Winged Whale and the Son of Thunderbird who was her lifemate. With strangers from another space-time here, the children, no matter how wise, were going to need a new kind of guidance. She wondered briefly if she actually should have called Kayla or Adrian to let them know she was coming before deciding once again that surprise was sometimes good for one.


End file.
